Domestic manners and social condition of the white, coloured, and negro population of the West Indies

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DOMESTIC MANNERS

AND

SOCIAL CONDITION

OF THE

WHITE, COLOURED, AND NEGRO

POPULATION

OF THE

WEST INDIES.

By MRS. CARMICHAEL,

FIVE YEARS A RESIDENT IN ST. VINCENT AND TRINIDAD.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON :

WHITTAKER, TREACHER, AND CO.

AVE-MARI A LANE.

1833.

LONDON :

PRINTED BY MANNING AND SMITHSON,

LONDON HOUSE YARD

ADVERTISEMENT.

In justice to myself, it is necessary to state that
these volumes have not been got up for an occasion.
The whole of the first, and part of the second
volume, were prepared some time ago, before the
agitation of the West India question by the present
government ; and the manuscript was then on the
point of publication by an eminent house, with the
special recommendation of an influential body of
men. Circumstances, however, occurred to sus-
pend the negotiation; and when I consider that, in
return for patronage, more might, perhaps, have
been considered due from me than it would have
been in my power to give, I am not sorry that my
volumes now stand upon their own imperfect merits.

Although in my sketches of the general manage-
ment of an estate, and of the social condition of the
black population of the colonies, I have been fre-
quently obliged to speak of matters intimately
connected with the question now before Parliament;
a great part of my work has no relation to it, was
not written in reference to it, and might be pub-

vi

ADVERTISEMENT.

lished with equal propriety at any earlier or later
period, as at this moment, since the domestic
manners and social condition of a people are little
affected by a legislative enactment. At the same
time, there is little that I have written that has not
an indirect bearing upon the matters now in
progress ; for it must be obvious, that in legislating
upon the condition of a people, an intimate ac-
quaintance with the character, manners, morals,
and peculiarities of that people, is indispensable
towards wise and wholesome legislation.

These pages are little else than an accumulation
of facts ; the results of personal experience and
attentive observation : and if, at times, they warrant
conclusions adverse to popular opinions, I can
only say that I record facts, for which alone I am
answerable, not for the conclusions to which they
lead.

I am fearful that some inaccuracies, particularly
in Negro language, may be found in these pages ;
and can only plead, as an apology for them, my
absence from England while the work has been
printed.

CONTENTS— VOL. L

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

First impressions — Negro Sunday market — An even-
ing riding on shore 3

CHAPTER II.

SKETCH OF THE WHITE POPULATION.

State of society; erroneous opinions respecting the
life of a planter — His domestic economy ; drudgery,
drones, frugality, and general manners of living —
Markets — A West India ball — Creole children —
Correcting an error — -Religion — Trials of planters
and their families — Demoralization : an instance of
negro kindness 14

CHAPTER III.

SKETCH OF THE COLOURED POPULATION.

Character, habits, and peculiarities — Conduct towards
their children — Coloured free servants, and slave
domestics — Correction of errors 69

CHAPTER IV.

SKETCH OF THE NEGRO POPULATION.

Overworking negroes — Different classes — The field
negro — The culture of the sugar cane, and negro
labour in the cultivation — Sugar and rum making —
Various uses of the cane — Negro domestics — Head
servants — A West India kitchen — Nurses, grooms,
and washerwomen — Tradespeople 95

CHAPTER V.

Negro ideas of comfort — Houses and furniture —
Cooking — Gardens — Correction of prevailing errors 124

Vlll

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI.

PAGE.

Negro dress — Expensive notions — Jewellery and per-
fumery— Effects of climate — Erroneous notions . . 142

CHAPTER VII.

Negro food — Provision-grounds — West India fruits
and vegetables, and manner of cooking them —
Prices of the produce of provision-grounds — Stock
rearing — General returns of provision-grounds —
Manner of life of the negro — Negro cookery — Negro
children — Singular custom— Succession to property
— Love of barter 161

CHAPTER VIII.

Diseases incident to the negroes, and treatment of the
sick 203

CHAPTER IX.

Instruction of the negroes — Details of an attempt at
private instruction — .Wesleyan missions, and their
results — Dancing---Change in the character and
conduct of the'negroes — A negro’s idea of freedom 219

CHAPTER X.

Idolatry — Obeah ; witchcraft — Negro honesty, and
anecdotes — Gentleness — Anecdotes — Affection . .251

CHAPTER XL

Distinction of rank among negroes — Tenaciousness on
this point — Negro amusements — Parties and balls —
Opinions of free service in England 282

CHAPTER XII.

Conversations with native Africans 299

CHAPTER XII. — CONTINUED.

»

The master and slave — Punishment — Alleged over-
working 323

THE WEST INDIES.

CHAPTER I.

First impressions — Negro Sunday market — An
evening ride on shore.

I beheld the West Indies for the first time
when, at sun-rise, on the last day of December
1820, we anchored in the lonely bay of Callia-
qua, in the island of St. Vincent. I am not
about to enlarge in the way of description ; —
man, rather than nature, is my object; but I
may be permitted to say, that the scene which
rose before me that morning with the sun, was
of the most captivating kind. I saw a suc-
cession of small valleys, covered with canes and
pasturage, intermingled with slight elevations
in the fore-ground, upon which here and there

B

WEST INDIES*

a dwelling-house could be distinguished, while
the prospect was terminated by mountain
heaped upon mountain, in that wild confusion

that told of those awful convulsions of nature

*

to which these tropical regions have been sub-
ject. The sea, too,— -such a sea as in the tem-
perate latitudes is rarely seen, held the island
like a gem in its pure bosom ; and mirrored
there, the anchored ships, the moving boats,
and the varied shores.

It was Sunday morning, and a novel spec-
tacle soon awaited me. I saw, for the first
time, bands of negroes proceeding from the
different estates, some with baskets, and others
with wooden trays on their heads, carrying the
surplus produce of their provision-grounds to
market. Accustomed to a devout observance
of the Sabbath day, I could feel little pleasure
in gazing on a scene which in other circum-
stances would have given me unfeigned pleasure
— for it was something, to learn that negro slaves
were in possession of, and could sell, the loads of
surplus produce which I saw, and receive their

WEST INDIES.

cash in hand ; and it was also something to see
that they were, with the exception of very few
individuals, dressed in that manner which in-
dicates an approach to real comfort.

After an unsuccessful attempt to procure
horses on shore that day for so large a party as
ours, and having made the necessary arrange-
ments for landing the following day, we returned
to our ship, and were speedily visited by several
of our own people, who came on board to see
us. I could comprehend little or nothing of
what they said • for though it was English, it
was so uncouth a jargon, that to one unaccus-
tomed to hear it, it was almost as unintelligible
as if they had spoken in any of their native
African tongues. They seemed overjoyed to
see their own master, telling him that if he had
not come they could not have lived much
longer without him. They were soon intro-
duced to all of our party, and presented their
hands, giving ours a hearty shake, and wishing
us all health and happiness. I was again
pleased to observe that all were well clothed ;

b 2

6

WEST INDIES.

their clean white linen trowsers and jacket,
with a blue checked shirt, looked tidy and
comfortable. I saw nothing of that servile
manner which I had anticipated : all were
frank, full of life and spirit, and talked to their
master with a freedom which must be seen to
be fully comprehended.

Early next morning, a boat came with fruit :
there were only one negro man and a boy in it
apparently about twelve years of age ; they
accompanied the motion of their oars with a
song, or rather a sort of chorus, the words of
which were only a repetition of “ Shove her —
shove her up,” but repeated so quickly, that to
me it appeared like any language on earth but
English. As soon as the boat came alongside
of us, the first words I heard uttered by our
sailors to the little boy, were “ You black devil,
you !” at the same time bestowing a rope’s-end
upon him. I could not help shewing undis-
guised disgust at such apparent cruelty ; but I
found that the little fellow had been provided
with a knife, and while the elder negro was

WEST INDIES.

7

engaged in talking with the sailors, the younger
one was busily employed in cutting away a rope.
No doubt he had been previously instructed by
the negro man to do so, and therefore it is
probable he suffered unjustly. I had at first
concluded that the conduct of the sailors was
merely a sample of what I was now daily to
witness from the white towards the black popu-
lation of the West Indies.

About 10 o’clock a. m. we landed, and were
soon mounted, and on the road to Kingstown.
I was delighted to find it much cooler on land
than at sea, for notwithstanding the awning on
board, the rays of the sun had been for the last
few days insupportably hot, while the reflection
from the water was so bright as to affect the
eyes to a painful degree. After riding little
more than two miles, we reached the top of an
ascent from which we had the first peep of
Kingstown. The descent from this elevation
to the town, commands one of the grandest
views imaginable : the Bay of Kingstown, —
the valley in the centre occupied by the town, —

8

WEST INDIES.

the charming cultivation, — the deep green of
the woods, and the noble mountains or the
calm sea terminating the landscape.

Independent of the beauty of the evening,
there is something very novel in the appearance
of a West India town, seen for the first time.
The wooden houses, the green Venetian win-
dows, with their galleries, and house-tops
without chimneys, —all these at first sight arrest
the eye of a traveller : the number of the
windows, too, in the houses is unlike anything
to be seen in England, and reminds one of the
representations of houses on China cups and
saucers, and the absence of the window duty.
My attention in riding from Calliaqua to Kings-
town was continually arrested by some plant
which I now for the first time saw, growing wild
by the road-side, instead of being carefully
cherished in a hot-house. I was particularly
struck by the great luxuriance of the mimosa,
which I could hardly believe was the same as
that which I had seen so carefully nursed in Eng-
land. We occasionally passed some very fine

WEST INDIES.

trees, all of which were natural wood. The sour-
sop tree is indigenous to this island, and is only
valuable from its fruit, which was then nearly
ripe. This fruit is something in size and shape
like a bullock’s heart, of a deep green, and
covered with prickles like a hedge-hog’s back.
The inside resembles cotton wool ; and there are
numerous black seeds, about the size of an
almond, interspersed throughout the whole.
The taste of the fruit is agreeable, and it is said
to be cooling and wholesome. The sour-sop,
cocoa-nut, — king of these climes, — and a few
plantains, were the only fruit trees I saw on
this road. Charmed, as I could not but be,
during; this novel and romantic ride, vet there
were many melancholy reflections continually
forcing themselves upon me; particularly as I
could not help remarking, that most of the
negroes whom we passed were by no means so
well clothed as those I had seen on Sunday :
few of them had on a jacket ; a shirt and
trowsers seemed the general costume ; and
these not in the best condition, either as re-

10

WEST INDIES.

garded cleanliness or repair. They seemed all
to have hats ; but those who were carrying
baskets or trays, invariably put these on their
heads, and carried the hat in their hands.

The few females we passed, were engaged in
washing by the river side ; for in this country,
and generally I understand in these colonies,
all the washing is performed with cold water,
by the side of some running stream. The. ap-
pearance of those women was disgusting : some
of them, it is true, had apparently good clothes ;
but without one exception, the arms were drawn
out of the sleeves, which, with the body of the
gown, hung down as useless appendages ; while
from the waist upwards, all was in a state of nu-
dity : sundry necklaces, and a coloured cotton
handkerchief of showy colours, completed their
dress. As we entered the town, although we saw
many well clothed, yet several such disgusting
spectacles were presented; and the little chil-
dren, in by far the greater number of instances,
were literally in a state of nature. We observed
several coloured women (that is, Mulattoes) at

WEST INDIES.

li

the doors and windows of houses, the dresses
of some of whom would have been elegant and
graceful, had they been more modest. We had
now reached the house which was to be our
residence for some time. I was particularly
struck, in approaching, by the Otaheite goose-
berry tree. The tree itself is not remarkable
otherwise than as being of an uncommonly
lively green ; but the fruit is very peculiar and
rich in its appearance, growing in clusters, in size
and colour resembling the common Muscadine
grape ; the clusters are attached to the stem
and branches of the tree, and are so closely set,
as literally to prevent the stem and branches
from being seen. This gooseberry is extremely
acid, without any other flavour, and is unfit for
use unless when baked in tarts, when it serves
as an humble imitation of the English green
gooseberry. As I entered the house, I was not
sorry to find it, although in a town, very rural
in its appearance. The tamarind tree, and the
beautiful blossoms of a large scarlet rose com»
monly used in the West Indies as an ornamental

b 3

12

WEST INDIES,

fence, with the flowers of the plumeria rubra,
were all growing luxuriantly around the house.
Upon alighting we were received by two of
— ’s negroes : one, a tall, masculine-
looking woman, clean but ragged ; the other,
a young man apparently under thirty ; badly
clothed, but clean. They received us very
kindly, and shook hands with us ; although
the female by no means looked so well pleased.

This first evening we passed in a gentleman’s
house at a short distance from our own : it was
spent much in the same way as in England,
drinking tea between seven and eight, and music
filling up the remainder. The drawing-room we
sat in entered through the hall, and when the
music began, I heard a noise in that direction.
The lady of the house observing me turn round,
said u that is only the little negroes; they are
dancing there ; and are all extremely fond of
it.” I had every inclination to take a peep,
but I was afraid if they saw me, they would
stop. I have since found by experience, however,
that had I gone, it would have proved no such

WEST INDIES.

13

interruption, for negroes are not at any age at
all abashed by the presence of a stranger. And
thus passed the first twelve hours on shore in a
West India colony.

14

WEST INDIES.

CHAPTER II.

SKETCHES OF THE WHITE POPULATION.

State of society ; erroneous opinions respecting the
life of a planter His domestic economy ;
drudgery , drones , f rugality, and general manners
of living — Markets — A West India hall — Creole
children— Correcting an error — Religion— Trials
of planters and their families — Demoralization ;
an instance of negro kindness.

In the last chapter, I have presented something
like a journal; but I purpose now recording
the results of my five years’ experience and
observation in St. Vincent and Trinidad, rather
than throw my observations into a regular
narrative. It is evident that the sameness of
a residence could not afford variety for this,

WEST INDIES.

15

though, to illustrate my views, it will often be
necessary for me to recur to a personal narra-
tive in my statement of facts.

It is also important to observe, that much of
that which forms the subject of these volumes
is strictly applicable to many, and in a great
degree to all the West India colonies; though
my observations have been made in St. Vin-
cent and Trinidad. Negro character is the
same, whether it be exhibited in St. Vincent’s,
or in any other island ; so we may say the
interests, and consequently the conduct of the
planters are : and although a greater or a
smaller sphere, and greater or less prosperity,
may in some degree influence the state of the
white society, and perhaps even, the condition
of the negroes ; yet the circumstances in which
the white and black population are relatively
placed, — their respective occupations, — their
interest, — the climate, — are all so similar, that
no very marked dissimilarity can exist in the
character and conduct of the population of the
different islands. In the present chapter, I

16

WEST INDIES.

shall offer some observations upon the state of
the white population.

I will venture to assert, that there is no class
of men on earth more calumniated than the
West India planters. I do not speak at pre-
sent (for that I shall enlarge upon in due time)
of their conduct towards the negro population.
I speak of their general character and mode of
life, as members of society. I had heard, and
all have heard, West India planters spoken of
as a peculiar race of men ; imperious, — unpo-
lished,— men who had raised themselves from
poverty to affluence, and who reclined in the
lap of luxury in tropical ease,- — each, a bashaw
lording it over the creatures of his little com-
munity.

It is no doubt certain, that there are indi-
viduals in the West Indies who have raised
themselves, probably from very low situations,
to what may be called a comfortable independ-
ence, but it is scarcely necessary for me to say,
that the affluence which once in some degree
existed, is to be found no more ; and it would

WEST INDIES.

17

now be more correct to say, that with very few
exceptions, they, although nominally pro-
prietors, are really nothing else than the farmer
for the British merchant, who receives their
annual produce.

The planters (at least I have not met with
one exception) are hard-working men ; up before
sunrise, and often the first in the field of a
morning, and generally the last there at night.
Many of them in these hard times keep no
manager, and have only one or two overseers to
assist in the regulation of the estate, without
whom, the business of the estate could not go
on ; and these must be white men , that is to say
not men of colour, for of course there can be no
objection to a Creole.* It has been more
than once attempted in St. Vincent, and I may
say in all the colonies, to introduce a coloured
overseer, but the negroes have uniformly re-

* As the term Creole is often in England understood to
imply a Mulatto, it is best to explain that the word Creole means
a native of a West India colony, whether he be white, black, or
of the coloured population.

18

WEST INDIES.

sisted it, — -they having a most decided dislike
to the coloured population.

Some fifty years ago, colonial society was
upon a very different footing from what it now
is. I was informed by a very old resident in
the West Indies, who had resided in many colo-
nies, when conversing upon the subject, that
about forty years ago or more, the only distinc-
tion of ranks consisted in white, coloured, and
negro persons. Tradesmen of every description,
if white , were admitted and invited to the best
society ; and although moving himself in that
sphere, he told me he distinctly recollected a
young man turning round to him, while stand-
ing the next in a dance, and saying, with a low
bow, “ Sir, I will thank you very much for
your custom.’' The young man was a respect-
able member of society in his way ; a black-
smith. It is needless to add that these days
are long gone by, and that there is a suffi-
cient number of a secondary rank among the
white people, to form a society of themselves.
I would say, that the town and country society

WEST INDIES.

19

varies quite as much as it does in Britain.
The country gentlemen, that is to say the plant-
ers, seldom come to the colonial town upon
pleasure, and are always much occupied with
their agricultural concerns, and anxious to
return to their properties. Those, indeed, who
possess estates in the neighbourhood of the
towns, of course mix in some degree with the
inhabitants of the towns, the society of which
may generally be said to be composed of those
who hold situations under Government ; of bar-
risters, medical men, and merchants ; and to
these must be added, the military, and the
naval officers of such ships as chance to be on
the station, towards whom the utmost hospi-
tality, consistent with their circumstances, is
invariably shewn by the West India proprietors.

With hardly an exception, drinking to excess
is unknown among planters, —or indeed luxury
of any description : destitute of those common
comforts, which every British farmer enjoys,
but which no money can purchase in a tropical
country, they are also without those luxuries

20

WEST INDIES.

which are to be found in the East Indies.
Some few indeed have good houses ; but the
majority are contented with a very humble
dwelling, furnished too in the simplest styte
imaginable.

The comfort of a family every one knows to
depend greatly on servants ; but contrary to the
common belief, planters are miserably off in
this respect. I never saw any servant, whether
male or female, that would have been reckoned
even passable in England ; and to a stranger,
it is surprising to see how contentedly they
bear the necessary privations — in fact, consi-
dering daily theft and constant negligence, with
a thousand other grievances of the same nature,
as matters of course.

Many families who live in town are not the
proprietors of their servants, but hire them from
their masters, to whom they pay a certain sum,
while they feed and clothe the negro, — or, which
is more customary, give an allowance to the
servant, who feeds and clothes himself. Some
few have free servants ; but this seldom answers,

WEST INDIES.

21

from various causes which will be afterwards
assigned.

The duties of a planter’s wife, are most
arduous; distant from markets, and all the few
comforts that a small West India town even
does afford, she must continue to live upon the
stock raised on the property, or absolutely go
without. The stock therefore becomes her
immediate care; and besides being forced to
superintend pigs, poultry, &c. with sundry
other occupations of the same nature, she must
attend also to the garden, and that most
minutely; otherwise, she would reap little from
it. Then she has to listen to all the stories of
the people on the estate, — young, old, and
middle aged: all their little jealousies and quar-
rels she must enter into, and be in short a kind
of mother to them all. The negro children
must be daily watched ; she must see them
swallow their physic when necessary; reward
the good, and admonish the bad ; visit the
sick, — encourage them, — and take, or appear
to take, an interest in all that concerns them.

22

WEST INDIES.

It is more than probable too, that she not only
cuts out, but sews a great proportion of the
clothes, for her house servants. Then again,
the mode of washing in the West Indies greatly
adds to the domestic labours of the planter’s
wife : the linen is dipped in the river, and soap
rubbed upon it while it is laid over a stone,
after which it is beat with a flat heavy piece
of wood made for the purpose, and lastly the
article itself is dashed upwards and downwards
upon the stone, with which the operation con-
cludes.

It is utterly impossible for those who have not
gone through such scenes, to comprehend the
unnecessary accumulation of work thus thrown
upon the mistress of a family, who must begin
to button and string the whole wardrobe every
time it returns from the wash, as it is a rare
occurrence if any of those appendages return ;
the patching and mending of a West India
family is consequently u never ending — still
beginning:” all this a planter’s wife must see
done, and also give her own active assistance

WEST INDIES.

23

to the completion of it. The nature of the
climate too renders it necessary that all pan-
tries and store-rooms be out of doors, at least
with very few exceptions. A great increase of
trouble, and Consumption of time is thus occa-
sioned ; and all is thrown upon the planter’s wife,
for none of her servants think of what is re-
quired, and indeed prefer making their mistress
return again and -again to the store-room during
the day ; as by this, more frequent oppor-
tunities of pilfering are offered to them.

All these avocations require more time,
activity, and temper than many people may be
aware of, and nothing short of a trial of such a life
can give any one a perfect idea of the various
annoyances attendant upon it: nor is this all ;
for very many, besides these labours, bake the
pastry, and make the puddings and custards.
Let those who talk of the luxuries of a West
India life, judge whether they would exchange
their home in Britain, however poor it may be,
to undergo all this. I can safely state from
personal experience, that so little reliance is

24

WEST INDIES.

to be put in any servant, even on him who
may call himself head servant, that the every
day work of laying the table for dinner must be
looked at in order to ascertain that nothing is
wanting on the table. I need scarcely say that
those ladies who have young children, have
still more to do ; and in their personal attention
towards their offspring during infancy, they
are the most anxious and affectionate of parents,
always suckling their children, and generally
to a longer period than is usual in England ;
and never for any party of pleasure, trusting
their infant to the hands of others. Their
conduct in this respect is most exemplary, and
very different from our fashionable mothers in
Britain, who either stint their infant of its
natural support, or abandon it to a mercenary
nurse.

It is much to be regretted, that although
West India parents are anxious about their
children’s bodily wants, to such a praiseworthy
degree as to grudge no personal trouble, that
yet they are with hardly an exception indifferent

WEST INDIES.

25

to their conduct in early childhood, neglecting
their religious and moral education to a melan-
choly degree. So soon as a little Creole gets
upon its feet— and this they do much earlier
than in Britain, generally at about two or three
years old — from that time a destructive kind
of accidental education commences.

The house being all open, and the domestics’
houses generally situated very near, they soon
find the way to them, and to the kitchen.
Negroes are like all uneducated people, most
unfit managers of children : they are pleased
with their prattle, so long as they do not
disturb them in what they are about ; they are
fond of teaching them to mimic, a talent which
is conspicuous in negroes, and early teach them
deceit, while they easily bribe them over to
silence by something good or sweet.

In St. Vincent, and in most of the colonies,
there are-few children who remain in the island
after ten or at most twelve years of age, for there
is no possibility of procuring either public or
private teachers, beyond merely in reading and

26

WEST INDIES.

writing, and those of very ordinary attainments ;
and it is needless to say that even were a
mother sufficiently well informed, and calcu-
lated from her natural talents and temper to
educate her daughters at home, her other
domestic duties are of so arduous a nature as
totally to preclude her doing so. Some few
families have tried a governess, but it has been
found not to answer ; for they almost invariably
marry soon after coming out — so that at present
there is really no alternative, excepting that of
sending children to Europe, or leaving them to
grow up totally ignorant. As for boys, there
is no possibility of educating them in the West
Indies.

To those who have neither personally expe-
rienced nor witnessed such scenes, it is impos-
sible to conceive how much this necessary
sending away of all young Creoles for the means
of education, operates to their disadvantage.
Parents look forward to this necessity almost
from the birth of their darling, who becomes
doubly dear from this consideration. From the

WEST INDIES.

27

moment of this separation indeed, the tie may
be said to be broken i boys in many instances
never return to their homes ; and girls, if they
do return, return only to be almost immediately
taken from it again by marriage.

These much to be dreaded realities, press so
constantly upon the minds of both parents, as
to operate strongly against the future welfare
of the child, who is over-indulged to a great
excess ; because, looking forward constantly to
the moment of parting, they cannot bear, as
they say, to cross the poor child. But these
evils, as well as those which are engendered by
the too frequent intercourse of children with
negro servants, are partly unavoidable, owing
to the constant cares and arduous duties which
I have already described as devolving upon the
planter’s wife : and I may also use an argument
I have frequently heard used by West India
mothers in favour of permitting this intercourse;
that if their children were kept from the
society of the young negroes, they could not
have those kindly feelings towards young

c

28

WEST INDIES.

negroes which they ought to have. And this*
by the by, leads me, before returning to the
upgrown population, to digress for a little upon
an opinion which I have more than once heard
at home, — that creole children are permitted
and encouraged to use the negroes, both young
and old, tyrannically.

The fact is, that children brought up as I
have described them to be, are not likely to
treat any one around them either with respect
or self-denying kindness ; but in justice both
to parent and child, I must remark, that when
instances of rudeness occur from a white child
to a negro, I feel satisfied, after having minutely
considered the subject, that their conduct is
not produced by any peculiar dislike, or want
of affection, towards the servant as a negro ; it
proceeds wholly from their totally neglected
education ; and in saying so, I give my reasons
for adopting this opinion, which I formed in
consequence of observing, that young creoles
are infinitely more disobedient, disrespectful,
and clamorous towards their parents, than

WEST INDIES.

29

towards the negroes by whom they are sur-
rounded * nay, in most families, I have ob-
served, that when one servant in particular was
appropriated for the children, she had twice
the authority of either parent ; and I have seen
many cases where the affection of the children
towards one or more of the negro domestics was
unbounded, and where they took no pains to
conceal that they preferred the society of those
servants to that of any white person.

I have many times observed the children,
upon going to bed, run to kiss those negroes
who were most about them, and say good night;
and I have seen children, who were habitually
rude upon contradiction, habitually kind and
affectionate to the negro servants. I had
many opportunities of seeing young people of
both sexes, at an early period after their arrival
in the West Indies, after having been absent
six, eight, or ten years for their education, and
in all of those numerous instances, I perceived
the greatest anxiety on the part of these young
and newly arrived creoles, to see those negroes

c 2

30

WEST INDIES.

whom they had best known in their childhood ;
and it was evident how well and how kindly
they remembered them, among all the new
objects that Europe had presented to them. In
no case did they omit to bring presents suited
to them ; and it would be only a suppression of
truth were I not to add, that there seemed
much more warmth of affection on the part of
the child, than on that of the negro, who upon
such occasions seemed alwavs more lost in

w

amazement at the great change in “ young
massa” or u misses/’ than in displaying those
affectionate feelings, which are occasionally to
be met with among old English servants
towards their masters’ children.

The feelings of negroes are strong, but
quickly evaporate in a few passionate expres-
sions of grief or joy, according to the occasion.
But after an absence of many years, they have
almost forgotten their young friends ; and when
they have made a few set speeches, such as
wishing “ that young massa may grow up to
be a rich man, and have plenty of fine negers /’

WEST INDIES.

31

or that 11 misses may soon have a pretty, young,
rich husband,” (and here I repeat word for
word what I have heard used upon occasions
of this kind), they shake hands, examine the
dress of the new comer,— for they are very
curious and observant as to fashion,— and de-
part; not, however, without first asking what
young massa has brought them out of England.

I shall be happy if I have successfully refuted
the opinion that young creoles are taught to
behave tyrrannically towards negroes, because
they are negroes ; it is a point, this, of great
consequence to be represented fairly, and f
think I have explained the real state of the
matter when I admit, that the children of
colonists in general, from being neglected in
their early education, and left without steady
or systematic control from either parent, do
conduct themselves, with few exceptions, in a
manner regardless of the feelings of those
around them ; but that they do this to all who
come in their way, and to their parents generally
more determinedly than to any others.

32

WEST INDIES.

Much more might be said upon this subject,
but that it will be found again to occupy our
attention when we come to consider the cha-
racter, customs, and situation of the negro
population,

1 repeat, then, once more, that there cannot
be a more unjust aspersion, than that children
are taught to despise a negro. No one who
has lived in the West Indies, at least for some
time back, can adopt such an opinion, unless
he has absented himself from society, and
formed his ideas from any thing but actual and
impartial observation.

But I now return to the upgrown population
and white society. When I first arrived in
the West Indies, there was little of what we
call visiting a in an easy way family dinners,
or a quiet cup of tea were unknown ; ceremonious
dinner parties were the only media of inter-
course. As my book is not meant merely for
grand people, planters, and M.P.s, some I
think may be pleased with a sketch of a great
dinner in these parts.

WEST INDIES.

33

I will pass over the inconvenience of walk-
ing or riding, under a tropical sun, even the
few hundred yards that separated my house
from that of my entertainer,— -and the crowd of
visitors arriving and arrived outside the door,—
and suppose myself ushered in, having smoothed
down my dress, and arranged my curls, and in
some degree recovered from the inconveniences
of heat, a strong breeze, and abundance of dust.
We were invited to dine at five in the after-
noon, and as I had something short of a quarter
of a mile to walk, I had the full benefit of the
concentrated rays of the tropical sun.

Dinner being announced about six, w7e were
ushered into a room by no means large or lofty:
two long tables wrere soon filled, and we sat
down, in number between thirty and forty — the
gentlemen greatly predominating ; there was
very little general conversation during dinner,
and, so far as I could see, not much even be-
tween those who sat next each other. Every
thing looked brilliant, however, from the
numerous lights (for it was already dusk), and

34

WEST INDIES.

the handsome shades, which are a great orna-
ment to the candlesticks. The windows and
doors all thrown open, displayed one of the
most picturesque scenes imaginable ; it was
fine moonlight, and the beauty of a moon-
light view in these latitudes, can be conceived
by those only who have seen it. The dinner
was like all West India dinners— -a load of sub-
stantial, so apparently ponderous, that I in-
stinctively drew my feet from under the table,
in case it should be borne to the ground.

Turtle and vegetable soups, with fish, roast
mutton (for in three days I had not seen or heard
of beef, lamb, or veal), and turtle dressed in the
shell, with boiled turkey, boiled fowls, a ham,
mutton and pigeon pies, and stewed ducks,
concluded the first course. Ducks and guinea
birds, with a few ill-made puddings and tarts,
&c. formed the second course. The heat of
the climate formed an excuse for the indifferent
pastry, and experience soon taught me that it
was impossible to make light flaky pastry, such
as we see everv day in England. However, it

WEST INDIES.

35

must be admitted that West India cooks do not
excel in the art of making sweet dishes, if 1
except a dish yclept floating island/’ which
they always succeed in admirably.

I had heard so much at home of the luxury
of the West Indies, and how clever black ser-
vants were, that I looked for something not
only good, but neat and even tasteful ; but I
was astonished to see the dishes put down
without the least apparent reference to regu-
larity, and I felt a constant inclination to put
those even, that were placed awry. Many of
the guests brought their servants with them,
and there was therefore an immense concourse
of them, of all descriptions : some with livery,
and some without ; some with shoes, but gene-
rally without; some wore white jackets, others
were of coloured striped jean ; some were young,
some old ; some were coloured, and others
negro men ; there was no arrangement, co-
operation, or agreement among the servants,
save only in one thing, and that was in stealing;
for a bottle of wine was hardly opened, until

c 3

36

WEST INDIES,

some clever hand whipped it away, and without
any apparent fear of detection or sense of shame,
openly handed it out of the window to those in
waiting to receive it. In short, the servants'
mouths were stuffed full the whole time ; and
so occupied were they all in making the most
of a good opportunity, that the ladies5 plates
would never have been changed, had it not
been for the repeated and loud reproof of the
gentlemen*

Such a length of time elapsed before the
second course made its appearance, that I began
to conclude that among the many novelties I
had seen, another might be, that the servants
retired to consume the remains of the first
course before they again made their appearance
with the second ; however, after the lapse of a
long, fatiguing, and silent interlude, the second
course did appear, and glad was I that it was
dismissed sooner than the first. A good deal
of wine was drank during dinner, but not more
than is usually consumed at dinner parties in
England. The wine in general use in the West

WEST INDIES.

37

Indies is of the very best quality; and malt
liquor, particularly London porter, acquires a
degree of mildness and flavour far beyond that
which it ever attains in Britain. Beer, porter,
and cider, are all drank at West India dinners,
but sparingly, and 1 apprehend these are by no
means favourable to health in a tropical climate,
at least to the generality of constitutions. The
most general beverage, and by far the safest,
is either brandy or rum and water, such as
would be drank in England : the gentlemen in
the West Indies make it extremely weak, about
the proportion of one glass of spirits to three
English pints of water this beverage is often
rendered more agreeable to the palate by being
milled,— that is, beat in a large jug or glass
rummer with a long three-fingered stick, some-
what resembling a chocolate stick ; this being
done quickly, the liquor froths up, and forms
at once the most cooling and safe beverage,
whether before or after dinner. Punch was
formerly much in fashion, but it is now fairly
exploded, excepting by one or two old people.

38

WEST INDIES.

who naturally prefer what they were accustomed
to in their youth ; but these take as small a
proportion of spirits in their lemonade, as the
others do in water — -but to return to my dinner
party.

The arduous business of dinner being con-
cluded, for the cheese was put down with the
second course, — the cloth was removed, and the
dessert made its appearance. It was January,
and I felt somewhat astonished, when I looked
at the table covered with pines, suppidilloes,
pomme de rose, water lemons, grenadilloes. See,
that amidst all this, I should see nothing of
the far-famed and really excellent West India
preserves, so much prized in England. Just as
I was meditating upon green limes and pre-
served ginger, the gentleman who sat next to
me offered me some preserved raspberries, just
come from England, by the last ship ; the
emphasis which was put on the word rasp-
berries, at once shewed me that English pre-
serves were quite as much esteemed in that
country, as West India preserves are in Eng-

WEST INDIES.

39

land. I ventured to tell him how astonished I
was to find that they relished our preserves,
when theirs were so much superior — he assured
me, that before long, I should alter my opinion :
and I found this to be perfectly correct.

The ladies did not remain long at table, but
soon retired to the drawing-room ; but there,
nothing like conversation took place, — indeed
the constant domestic drudgery of a female’s
life in the West Indies, married or unmarried
(for the latter, although not occupied with the
menage , are engaged in dress-making and
mending — negro servants being wretched needle
women), leaves them no time for improving the
mind, — and in society, the ladies are too
generally found distinguished for that listless-
ness, and meagreness of conversation, which
arise from an uninformed mind.

As soon as the gentlemen came in, coffee and
cake were handed round, and an almost imme-
diate bustle followed; for a heavy, though short
shower of rain had fallen, and the ladies began
to ponder upon the probable results of walking
or riding through a miry, slippery road, in a

40

WEST INDIES.

cloudy night, between nine and ten o’clock.
We had resolved to walk ; and wrapped in warm
cloaks, bonnets, and thick shoes, we took our
leave. As we expected, the road was very bad,
and so dark was it, that we could make no
choice where to place our footsteps, — some of
our party began seriously to lament the pro-
bable ruin of a satin slip, while the gentlemen
were no less pathetic on the subject of their
silk stockings. Where a party of this kind is
sufficiently numerous, there is generally no
want of amusement ; in fact, it was only during
the walk home, that any thing like cheerful-
ness or ease appeared ; our adventures, how-
ever, were soon ended ; for ten minutes brought
us to our own door, and as I seated myself
quietly at home, I could not help thinking
of Miss Edgeworth’s inimitable description
of Mrs. Rafferty’s dinner, in her “ Tales of
Fashionable Life.”

Dinners, if I may so express myself, took a
more rational turn before I left the West Indies ;
they began to find out that those parties were
both expensive and dull.

WEST INDIES,

41

Small social parties came more into vogue :
the ladies began to talk to the gentlemen— and
certain is it, that the latter were amazingly
improved by the change of system ; cards
became, less and less, the resource of the
evening, and dancing succeeded instead : this
gave employment to the young, and amuse-
ment to the old: music first became tolerated,
then listened to with some interest ; and before
I left St. Vincent for Trinidad, if there were no
musicians, there were at least many who liked
music and encouraged it ; and finally the piano
forte, and quadrilles, to a great extent banished
cards and scandal.

Even small dinners, however, were by and
by found expensive ; and times began to get
rapidly so bad for the colonists, that these
could no longer be kept up ; and excepting
upon great occasions, these too were completely
abandoned.

Small evening parties, which created little
or no expense, except the few additional cups
of tea or coffee, and a few glasses of weak wine

42

WEST INDIES.

and water, now became common. Quadrilles
were the general amusement. These parties
usually met about eight in the evening, and
broke up before, or at eleven, at farthest.

Great balls are not often given. The im-
mense expense is the principal objection ; and
the difficulty of collecting the female popula-
tion is another:

In St. Vincent, and many others of the colo-
nies, the roads are hilly and often very bad ; it
is almost dangerous for a lady to ride, — and in
many places it is impossible to drive a gig ; all
these things combined, prevent many great
balls from being given ; but when one is really
in agitation, all the island is in a buz, and the
coloured women are as active as possible, huck-
stering their trays full of satins, gauzes, rib-
bons, and white shoes and gloves, &c. & c. to
the very last hour.

Let me present a sketch of these balls, given
in the house of a gentleman, not far distant
from Kingstown.

The house was situated upon a rising ground

WEST INDIES.

43

just above Kingstown, and we had to walk but
a short distance to reach it. One of his
majesty's ships lay in the bay at the time, and
the officers were all of the party ; there was a
number of fine young men, and some uncom-
monly interesting boys, among the midshipmen.

One of the officers happened to be an old
acquaintance and a countryman : those whom
we only know slightly at home, when we meet
abroad, are hailed as dear friends, and we give
a hearty shake of our hand to the man whom
we only bowed ceremoniously to at home. It
was a lovely evening, and as we walked up
the avenue lined with cocoa-nut trees, and
reached the front of the house, a prospect of
singular beauty opened before us.

Kingstown bay lay in moonlit panoramic
splendour ; the sea was smooth as glass, and if
an occasional air was wafted over it, the ripple
only served the more to shew the effects of
moonlight.

On one side was Fort Charlotte, and on the
other, Dorsetshire Hill ; the town lay as it were

44

WEST INDIES.

at our feet, and the landscape terminated in the
lofty mountain of St. Andrew, covered with
wood to the very summit.

The little parterre and shrubbery around the
house, were extremely neat, — -the estate negroes,
and many coloured people, some in full dress,
were already crowded round, or in the house,
and every voice and countenance bespoke
joy and expectation. We found a comfortable
chamber wherein to change our shoes, and lay
aside our shawls, — a luxury often not to be
obtained in St. Vincent, from the very small
and inconvenient houses which most of the
colonists possess. This house, even in England,
would have been reckoned only a pretty cottage,
but still it contained two tolerably sized public
rooms, and a few good chambers, and was so
much more neat and comfortable than any
thing I had seen, or did ever see in St. Vincent,
that I was charmed with it.

The kind proprietor is now no rqore, — but
should these pages ever meet the eye of the
hospitable lady of that estate, may I hope that

WEST INDIES.

45

she will pardon the liberty I have taken in thus
describing what I felt to be one of the most
interesting and truly beautiful scenes I beheld
in the West Indies.

If I had been rather astonished to see a
public ball-room (which I had some time before)
crowded with coloured people and negroes, I was
still more surprised to find a private one equally
so in proportion : here were young, old, and
middle-aged negroes ; and as the children grew
sleepy, they went into their <f Misses” chamber,
which opened from the drawing-room, and
quietly snored in full chorus. The band from on
board the man-of-war, played quadrilles and
country dances all the evening, — an extraordi-
nary advantage in the West Indies, where the
only musicians in the country are negro fiddlers,
who play merely a little by the ear : they know
neither sharps nor flats, and when such come
in their way, they play the natural instead, so
that it is very difficult to find out what tune
they are playing. The only comfort to those
who are easily annoyed by discord is, that the

46

WEST INDIES.

music is always accompanied by a tamborine
and one or two triangles* so that the discordant
tones are pretty well drowned. The negro
muscians soon become sleepy — and it is gene-
rally said, that they play better asleep than
awake. All the while they play, whether
awake or not, they keep time with the foot,
and move their head and body backwards and
forwards in a most ludicrous way.

I was very much amused by observing what
connoisseurs the negro women are of dress, —
standing near me, at one time, I heard them
criticise every thing I wore, both in the mate-
rials and make.

We returned home about two o’clock in the
morning, and our walk was not less delightful
than it had been in the evening going up ; the
air was equally balmy and mild, and not the
least chill was perceivable, although w7e had
just left a crowded room. Strange as it may
appear, a ball-room is much cooler in the West
Indies than in Britain,-— where the windows
being all shut, and very probably a fire in the

WEST INDIES.

47-

room, the air gets disagreeably close; whereas
in the West Indies, the doors and windows
being opened ail round, and a free circulation
of air admitted (for the breeze sets in after
sunset), it is seldom or ever uncomfortably warm.
Let me say, with reference to the presence of
the negroes at the ball ; that when a proprietor
of negroes thus admits his slaves to participate
in the amusements of his family, there can be
no interested motives, it must proceed from
pure good will, and the wish to see them happy.
This subject, however, will be further elucidated
when we come to speak of the negroes’ holidays
and amusements.

The important subject of religion, and espe-
cially, the religious instruction of the negroes,
will form matter for a future chapter; but at
present it is necessary that I should say a single
word respecting the religious feelings of the
white population. It seemed to me, that reli-
gion occupied very little, the attention of the
great majority of society; and still there was
little opposition to it. With many families,

48

WEST INDIES.

there was the strictest decorum on this subject,
as far as this could be proved by regularly
attending church ; but in general, they acted as
if the Sabbath day ended when the bell tolled
for the conclusion of the morning service.
D uring my residence in St. Vincent, there was
no evening service.

The morning service began at eleven o’clock,
and I always regretted that it was at the hottest
time of the day, for walking or riding under a
tropical sun was so oppressive, that many were
prevented altogether from attending service.
Some families, however, and many individuals,
besides managers and overseers, rode several
miles regularly to church. Had there been
evening service, it might have tended greatly to
discountenance Sunday dinners, and parties of
pleasure in the country, both of which were very
common.

I would say generally, however, that satisfied
with a certain form of religion and morality, I
seldom or ever met with any one who seemed
ever to think at all seriously upon the subject

WEST INDIES.

49

of religion. I saw no one read religious books,
nor did there seem any desire to peruse works
of this description.

The Sunday market I heard them always
talk of as an evil, neither did I ever in my
life hear it vindicated in the abstract. To the
white population it is a nuisance, and no ad-
vantage; but it is far otherwise to the negro
and coloured people, who derive many peculiar
profits from the market being on Sunday, which
they would be deprived of were it held on a
week day; and therefore, although so disgrace-
ful a scene, yet it is one of those customs which
were it at once abolished, other worse con-
sequences might follow,— which will hereafter
be explained. It is sufficient here to say, that
I conscientiously believe the white population of
the West Indies are by no means advocates for
buying and selling unnecessarily upon the
Sabbath, but they must be aware, as residents
in the colonies, of many difficulties and dangers
in making any sudden change, of which those
living in England can have no idea. As I

50

WEST INDIES.

have spoken of markets, I am reminded that
some things have escaped me which require to
be set down ; and that I have not yet suffi-
ciently corrected the absurd notices entertained
of the colonists, by those who have either
trusted to partial information, or who, during
a short visit to the West Indies, have seen but
the outside of society. During all the time
I remained in St. Vincent, the markets were
so bad, and so ill supplied, that I was eighteen
months in the colony before I ever saw or
heard of a bit of fresh beef: the population had
then however so considerably increased, that
an ox was killed once a week generally, when
it was regularly advertised in the newspapers,
and was hailed as a most important piece of
intelligence. Before that time, if you wished
to give even a plain dinner to a friend, you
were compelled to send round the country to
procure a whole sheep, which you were of
course obliged to use ; for to keep part of it
was impossible, from two causes — the heat of
of the climate, and the thievishness of your

WEST INDIES.

51

servants— therefore having a sheep, it became
a] most as cheap to make a great ceremonious
dinner of it, and add the other necessary articles,
such as turtle, fowls, or turkey, ham, ducks, and
guinea birds. I was nearly two years in the
island before I had ever seen dinners of any
other description than those of which I have
a few pages back given a sketch, and I con-
cluded this was a sure sign of the preference
of the colonists for parade, ceremony, and ex-
pense. I had not thought of the necessity
almost imposed upon them to act nearly in the
way they did ; but when I saw more and more
of the real state of society, I found that they re-
gretted this style of entertaining, which was
rendered unavoidable by their being unable to
procure a moderate portion of meat at one time.

Fish forms the chief food of all classes of
white people; and, varied by a fowl, or pork,
is the daily dinner. Irish mess, beef, and
pork are used in every family ; and the creole
soups are also much liked — they are never
made altogether with fresh meat ; either salt

D

52

WEST INDIES.

beef or pork is used, to season them ; with,
at times, salt fish. Puddings and sweet dishes
of any kind are little used in families except
upon rare occasions, the materials requisite for
either puddings or pies being exorbitantly
dear; so that the common family dinner of a
West India planter is much inferior, both in
quantity and quality, to that of people in the
very middling ranks of life at home; while the
high price of all the real necessaries of life,
renders living upon a limited income little
better than what would be called misery in
England. How many families are there at
this moment, whose dinner consists daily of
jack-fish, — and either a roasted plantain, or
yam, with occasionally as a treat, a bit of salt
pork. The jack-fish is indeed an excellent fish,
resembling the herring in size, and somewhat
in flavour also; but I suspect our lawyers and
merchants’ families, &c. at home would look
upon this as very poor daily living, and would
by no means think they made up for it by
twice a year giving a great dinner, and eating

WEST INDIES.

53

fat mutton. Those who have been long settled,
and who are accustomed to this style of living,
take it very contentedly, and ask their intimate
friend “ to come and eat fish with them but
they know this is not the style of living in
England, and it is not before a considerable
lapse of time that they consider you sufficiently
creolized, to invite you to come and eat fish,
and when they do, it is a sure sign that they
consider you no longer as a ceremonious visiter.

I was, therefore, as I before remarked, nearly
two years in the West Indies before all this
opened upon me, — I say opened, for it was the
cause of unfolding and explaining the motives
of many actions, which I had before condemned
and misconstrued, considering them as origi-
nating in choice rather than in necessity. I
now saw my error ; not only in this, but being
now, as it were, more behind the scenes, I was
convinced, that although a casual observer
generally will conclude all creoles to be lazy,
luxurious, ignorant, proud, and even deficient
in feeling — that the cause of his hastily adopt-

d 2

54

WEST INDIES.

ing such sentiments, proceeds first from coming
out firmly persuaded that a creole must be all
this ; and secondly, from seeing only the out-
side of society ; for, mixing as a stranger with
the colonists at these sumptuous dinners, he
little dreams that a fried jack-fish, or salted
fish and plantains, is the colonist's daily fare, —
he sees them listless and unemployed during the
evening, but he does not know what fatigues
they have undergone during the day : and him-
self newly arrived, with all the advantages of an
European constitution, he makes no allowance
for the relaxed state of their constitutions,
which have suffered during perhaps twenty
years, from the effects of a tropical sun.

He sees them speak peremptorily to their
servants ; and in argument maintain the neces-
ity in the present state of negro civilization,
that corporal punishment should not be entirely
done away with by law ; but the new comer
knows nothing, or little or nothing, of the real
state of negro civilization : he is totally un-
aware of the difficulty experienced in managing

WEST INDIES.

55

negroes; or, if he has just begun to feel it
personally, he blames not the negro ; but
argues with boldness, that the difficulty arises
wholly from the bad system of slavery around
him; so that, without even emancipation, he is
sure that mildness, and just, humane manage-
ment, will make it quite as easy to manage
negroes as white servants, and he therefore is
shocked with what he considers the want of
true feeling, humanity, and justice in the white
population.

There is only one way of coming to a
different, and a juster conclusion; and that is,
by residing long enough in a West India town
with one’s own slaves for servants, or in
residing at, and taking the active management
of a sugar estate,— then indeed, will he find his
patience, his humanity, nay, if he be truly pious,
he will find his pious principles, brought to a
severer trial than he was aware of, and he will
give no small credit to those proprietors who
jog on amidst all their trials and difficulties,
saying they hope better times will come: and

56

WEST INDIES.

as for the negroes, poor creatures, it is not their
fault ; the only wonder is, exposed as they are
to so many representations of the cruelty and
oppression of their masters, not to mention the
alleged unlawfulness of their proprietor claim-
ing them as property, that they stand by their
master at all.

But there is one source of suffering, that
every resident West Indian has endured for
some years, and is still enduring — and it is to
be feared, will and must continue to endure,-—
and that is, a total want of personal security
for himself and his family. The planter is
often distant many miles from any white person
save his manager and overseers : now on a small
estate, say where there are one hundred negroes,
and allowing that out of that number there
are twenty- five, young and old, and other
twenty-five, in whom their master has some
confidence, — I say some only, for perfect con-
fidence it is impossible to have, as negroes are
such personal cowTards, that even if their affec-
tion prompted them to protect their master, their

WEST INDIES.

57

fear would operate so strongly, that though
they might warn him of danger, yet they
would not defend him against a superiorly of
numbers, —well, even upon this very moderate
calculation, there would be fifty men against
the planter, his wife and family, and at the
most, other two white men ; indeed, I rather
think that upon so small an estate there would
not be three white residents. But if this is
thought a distressing situation, what must be
the feelings of a planters wife? If any serious
apprehension of a rising is entertained, her
husband and every white man upon the estate
are obliged to join the militia, and she is left
with her children in a state of alarm beyond
description : surrounded on all sides by negroes,
she knows that she has no means of escape,
and that she and her family are left entirely in
their power.

West India houses, open as they are neces-
sarily on all sides to admit the air, cannot be
secured in any way to prevent nightly intruders ;
and I speak from experience, when I say that

58

WEST INDIES,

X envied the poorest cottager in England , who
could fasten his door and windows, and call
his little home his castle, while every night in
the West Indies, you feel that you cannot
secure your house ,* and one half the night
is frequently passed in listening, rising out of
bed, and ascertaining whether or not all is
quiet.

I am afraid some of those females, whose
delicate sensibility has been so much affected
by the bare name of West India slavery,
would, notwithstanding their amiable belief in
the gentle and harmless disposition of the
negro, have been not a little nervous, had they
found themselves placed on a wild West Indian
estate, with a house so open as they all must
be, and perhaps watching over a young family,
alarmed for the safety of absent husbands ;
and either surrounded by domestic slaves, in
whom they have no rational ground of con-
fidence, or else, as is usual at such times,
deserted by their domestic slaves altogether.

Before concluding this imperfect sketch of

WEST INDIES.

59

the white population, I would offer a few obser-
vations upon the condition of the secondary
class of whites, with reference chiefly to the
demoralizing influence of slavery upon their
characters and habits,-— facts applicable to all
West India colonies. Slavery operates pre-
judicially on the higher classes; but its de-
moralizing effect operates in a different manner,
and still more prejudicially, upon the lower
orders of white people, who, having seldom or
ever any females in their own situation in life
to associate with, and to whom they might
be respectably married, they get a negro (pro-
bably belonging to the estate they are employed
upon) to live with them, until they gradually
forget their country, and their early instruc-
tions, and become as the expression is, almost
a white negro.

These, I. think, are the effects of slavery
among those whose business it is to manage
slaves. The immoral habits which I had heard
described as existing in the best society even
in the West Indies, I nowhere found; and I

d 3

60

WEST INDIES.

am inclined to believe that the tone of morals
in this respect, among both sexes, is much
more really strict than is generally to be found
in what is called genteel society in England :
besides, it ought to be recollected, that in
Britain much concealed immorality may take
place, but in most of the colonies this is im-
possible,— every thing is known, and speedily
rumoured abroad.

Managers upon small estates, and overseers,
are much to be pitied, for they have not the
means to enable them to make any woman
decently comfortable ; the common necessaries
of life are all so expensive, that living costs
three or four times as much as it does in
England ; besides, in the West Indies, you
lose a great deal from theft ; the negroes plunder
by little and little, but still the annual loss is
no trifle; neither can a man control his expen-
diture in that country, as he can do in England,
where there are retail shops for every article.
In the colonies he must supply himself from
merchants’ stores, who sell principally whole-

WEST INDIES.

61

sale. He sends in an order to town for what he
wants, and however exorbitant he may think
the article, and very likely ill-suited for what
he requires, he must take it or go without.

Managers, upon small estates, have seldom
a salary that exceeds 180/. or 200/. sterling
per annum. They have a house, unfurnished — -
two servants, and a boy — they have also of
course what rum, sugar, and salt fish they
require from the estate. Now this seems, to
one who has never been in the West Indies, a
very fair situation, — but to those who know the
country, and the necessary expenditure, it is
quite another thing. A manager must keep up
a little of the appearance of a gentleman, other-
wise he would not be respected even by the
negroes; and though upon 200/. sterling per
annum, he might live, and keep out of debt,
yet he could not possibly do more, owing to the
great expense of every article of clothing, and
also of housekeeping. Managers so situated,
too often keep a coloured housekeeper, who
generally manages well for herself, though

62 WEST INDIES.

she almost always does something for her own
subsistence, either by huckstering or making
preserves. She can live, and be very comfort-
able, in circumstances that no European woman
could possibly be happy in ; for she is never at
a loss for society, as she can always find some
coloured people not far distant, of her own
habits and manners ; but an European female in
such circumstances, would be desolate and
miserable, even if her husband could afford to
give her the common comforts of life ; for no
women of decent moral habits, can make a
friend of any of the coloured population who
move in that sphere of life.

If the salary of a manager is too limited to
admit of his marrying, that of an overseer is
still more so,-- seldom exceeding 50/. sterling,
so that it is hardly possible for him even to
pay his way.

These causes combined, operate powerfully
upon the middling and lower classes of white
people, in preventing marriage, and opening a
door to much immorality.

WEST INDIES.

63

Some may think that the proprietors ought
to enlarge the salaries of their managers and
overseers, but it is literally impossible for them
to do this. West India produce for several years
has gradually been decreasing in value, while
the expense of every article requisite upon an
estate has not at all decreased ; and such is the
desperate state of their affairs, that upon a
small estate, it requires the whole produce to
pay the current expenses, and not a farthing
remains for the proprietor or his family.

There are few West Indian estates that are
altogether out of debt, and some it is to be
feared are involved beyond their now real value:
this depresses the spirit of any man who is
placed in such circumstances; he sees his family
unprovided for, and no prospect before him but
that of his estate being sold to satisfy the
demands of the mortgagees at home. This is
no imaginary tale, but a faithful relation of the
pitiable state to which so many hard-working
and benevolent owners of negroes are reduced
principally by those precipitate measures, all of

64

WEST INDIES,

which, let it be remembered, took their rise from
the erroneous opinions and imaginary stories
circulated throughout Great Britain. It is a
very unjust mode of proceeding, to search out
only for instances of immorality or cruelty ; the
fair way is to examine the state and feelings of
the majority, the great majority , of the white
population. There are no doubt cases of im-
morality and cruelty in perhaps every West
India colony; but are there more, or as many
in proportion, as in the same population at
home ? I am convinced that those cases of
severity, which may occasionally occur in the
West Indies, are not aggravated by the system
of slavery ; but that in general slavery operates
as a preventive. How often have I heard the
proprietor of slaves say, “ Well, I would not
put up with this from a white servant, but it is
but a negro, — he knows no better.” This I
have heard said frequently, when faults have
been committed that would have ruined a
servant’s character for life at home, or more pro-
bably have brought him to justice. It must be

WEST INDIES.

65

recollected what high privileges are enjoyed by
Britons; while our colonists, almost in compa-
rison shut out from the civilized world, — often
living at a great distance from church, — with
all the disadvantages of a tropical climate to
contend with, are to have their every action
canvassed, their motives distorted ; and that
by people who have proved themselves, to say
the least, miserably ignorant of the country
whose manners and customs they have at-
tempted so fully to describe.

West Indians do not now shrink from in-
vestigation on the subject of kindness to their
people, — neither need they do so,- — from a fair
impartial investigation they have nothing to
fear; what they justly dread, is that despicable
system of espionage which is so boldly carried
on and encouraged, by those too who ought to
know better than to listen to the descriptions
of persons who never mixed in decent society
in the colonies, and whose observations can
only be derived from second hand, and there
can be little doubt, often from the lower orders

66

WEST INDIES*

of coloured people. This is not the place to
describe the effect produced upon the negro
by the sweeping aspersions laid to the charge
of the whole of the white population ; but it is
now too late, to soften the bitter cup of calamity
that many an European family has had to drink.
More than one proprietor I have seen sink to
the grave, under his accumulated feelings of
disappointment at finding his character so un-
justly attacked, and his worldly prospects com-
pletely crushed, while his afflicted family were
bereaved of a husband and a father, and reduced
to work for their own support, early and late,
to procure a miserable pittance. There are not
a few at this moment in these lamentable cir-
cumstances, who were kind benevolent owners
of negroes, and whose people, though of course
no longer belonging to them, visit them and
feel for them, taking 'provisions frequently from
their own grounds to their old Misses. Negroes
are by no means the stupid beings some people
suppose them to be ; they know very well the
estate that is doing well, and the one that is

WEST INDIES.

67

sinking ; and they can trace from cause to
effect, more accurately than some may imagine.
I recollect a negro coming one day to my door
in April 1828 : she had two trays, one upon her
head full of plantains, and another on her arm
with some fruit. After purchasing some pines,
I asked her if the plantains were for sale; she
said “no ;” and with a tear in her eye, added,
“ I ’m going to carry dem to my old misses, she
be very kind to me when I was her nigger; my
misses knowed better times, but bad times now
misses, bad times — my misses had plenty nigger,
and her husband, and fine pic-a-ninnies ; but
dem bad times come, and so you see dem sell
one, two, tree, — I no know how many nigger,
till at last massa die. I believe he die of broke
heart: so we just go now and den and see
misses, and gie her some yam, or some plan-
tain, or any little ting just to help her.”

This negress had no provision-grounds of her
own, being a domestic slave, and therefore must
have actually purchased, or at least bartered

68

WEST INDIES.

something of her own to procure the plantains
for her old mistress. This is no uncommon
case ; but in Trinidad I saw more of such, where
the distress of the white population was even
much greater than in St. Vincent.

WEST INDIES.

69

CHAPTER III.

SKETCH OF THE COLOURED POPULATION.

Character , habits , and pecidiarities — Conduct
towards their children — Coloured free servants ,
and slave domestics — Correction of errors .

The coloured population are partly free, and
partly slaves : there is a considerable diversity
of rank, not only among those who are free,
but also among the slaves. Some of those bom
free, have received a tolerably good education
in Europe, and there are a few individuals who
have enjoyed even superior advantages in this
respect ; but by far the greater number have
learnt all they know, in the colony. Although
some of the male sex are excellent accountants,
and write well, the females are in general de-

70

WEST INDIES.

plorably ignorant, and know little beyond the
use of their needle. Many earn their bread in
this way ; but they are in general so proud and
so indolent, that it is hardly possible to get
any thing out of their hands, and they charge
besides most exorbitantly for every kind of
work. Others make preserves and pickles,
while some hire themselves out as servants ;
but they seldom are found to suit in this capa-
city ; they are so tenacious of rank, and quarrel
so unnecessarily with the negroes, whom they
treat, generally speaking, with so much con-
tempt and disdain, that there is no possibility
of pleasing both parties. I had several trials
of free coloured servants, but I found them so
much above the situation they willingly under-
took, that they required other servants to do
nearly all their duty for them. They are ex-
tremely plausible, and great talkers ; and make
a point of telling not only all they know, but
what is worse, all they choose to invent ; and to
new comers nothing is so dangerous as to have
a free coloured servant much about one so con-

WEST INDIES.

71

nectedly, and apparently with so little art or
design, do they tell their stories, while all the
time they are weaving a net, and trying to
catch you in it, or to sow discord between you
and your friends. If they are dangerous attend-
ants upon a female, it need not be said, how
much more cautious the other sex ought to be
of their snares : to allure young men who are
newly come to the country, or entice the inex-
perienced, may be said to be their principal
object. The lower classes of the white popu-
lation, from the causes I formerly referred to,
deprived in a great measure of white female
society, are easily ensnared by these hand-
some and attractive young women, and after
a time, such society becomes more suited to
their taste than that of their countrywomen.
Among coloured females, marriage is not very
general ; but many of them, although not bound
by the ties of matrimony, do live otherwise
respectably with those who maintain them ;
bringing up their family, apparently mutually
anxious for their welfare, and desirous that their

72

WEST INDIES.

children should not follow their example. I
recollect one instance in particular that occurred
in reference to this, while I was in St. Vincent.

A coloured woman, who had lived many
years with the same person, and had several
children by him, had also one daughter, older,
but not by the same father ; — she came to me
one day in great and unfeigned distress, telling
me that she had every reason to believe her
daughter was desirous of forming a connexion
with a young coloured man, who, she was
satisfied, neither would nor could marry her.
After detailing to me all the means she had
resorted to for discouraging the intimacy, and
coercing her daughter, she said, u And now,
ma’am, what more can I do ? I have brought her
up to be clever; she reads and writes nicely ; I
have had her taught her duty both to God and
man, ma’am ; she a’nt as I was (begging your
pardon) in my day ; we be very ignorant, and
know no better ; we now know the sin of acting
so as she has been brought up to know, and
now she only despise me cause I ’m more igno-

WEST INDIES.

73

rant than she be ; but for all that, I know
marriage is the right way, and I ’d rather lay
her in the grave as see her go on so.”

It is of no consequence to my readers to
know the result; the end I had in view was to
shew that instances do at times occur anions;
the coloured population, of parents, although
themselves unmarried, yet not by any means
regardless as to the future moral habits of their
offspring. I am afraid, however, that the
majority of such parents have little anxiety
upon the subject • and to make a good bar-
gain— that is, a good legal settlement for their
daughter — Is all they aim at ; and if this be
properly and legally managed, they consider
marriage a matter of little import. That there
are some of the white population who contribute
to render this immorality common, there cannot
be a doubt ; but such are neither generally
respected, nor do they move in what is called
good society. Such connexions cannot be
concealed in a colony ; besides that, the co-
loured women often glory in the tie ; and gen-

74

WEST INDIES.

tlemen who live in this state, are not, as in
fashionable society in Britain, frequently the
better received for it. I know necessarily much
less of the coloured population than of the
negro • but I am inclined to think that the
rising generation are every way superior to
their forefathers : yet it must be conceded, that,
as a population, they are peculiarly inclined to
immorality ; and there is such a total want,
generally speaking, of decency in the way they
dress, if I except those in the highest ranks,
that they always appeared to me very disgust-
ing. They are graceful in their address, and
often have an expressive countenance, although
very languid. The talents of any I have known
have been all very far from being good ; but
their constitutional indolence is so great, that
it may prevent their employing the powers of
their mind. They always appeared to me less
ambitious of instruction than the negro, —
equally violent and proud, —fond of going to
law about every trifle, and designing and in-
triguing about small matters.

WEST INDIES.

75

The first property they are anxious to possess
is a slave, and they certainly keep their slave
to his duty under a very different discipline
from that practised by white people; and to be
sold to a coloured owner, is considered by a
negro to be an extreme misfortune : of course
there are honourable examples among coloured
people of the reverse of all this, for I only
speak of the majority. Generally speaking,
the coloured women have an insatiable passion
for showy dresses and jewels, and are decked
out, not in gorgeous, but in costly articles of
this description. The highest class of females
dress more showily and far more expensively
than European ladies. They wear no bonnets
nor caps, but invariably have a Madras handker-
chief for a turban ; and those who can afford it
wear, when going to chapel, a beaver hat ; it is
generally grey, and similar to a lady’s riding hat
in shape. They are also particularly fond of nice
silk umbrellas, or parasols, as they are always
termed in the West Indies : tight, coloured kid
shoes and silk stockings also are favourites.

E

76

WEST INDIES.

I have understood that the coloured men are
by no means given to intoxication, and I never
could observe any thing but sobriety in their
appearance ; they are said to be very fond of
good living, and to indulge a great deal in this
way ; some of the higher classes are rich, and
entertain each other frequently with great
splendour and ceremony. Dancing is their
chief recreation, and they dance well ; they
have very frequent public balls, to which many
of the white unmarried gentlemen go by invi-
tation ; but the ticket is paid for by the visitor.
They keep up their dances until day-break, the
scene of gaiety being either the hotel or some
other public room in the colonial town; the
music is of course more than indifferent, con-
sisting of negro fiddlers, a tamborine, and
triangles ; those who are not engaged in the
dance, beat time with their feet and hands ; so
that whenever there is a coloured dance, the
noise made in this way is heard to a consider-
able distance.

The language of the coloured people is much

WEST INDIES.

77

more intelligible than that of negroes, although
the lower class speak nearly negro dialect; but
the higher classes often express themselves
much better, although generally very ungram-
matically ; and all of them have that strong
nasal pronunciation and creole drawl, which is
peculiarly disagreeable in the colonies : indeed
many of the white population are by no means
free from this drawl, and white creole children
have it almost as strong as a negro.

How far the coloured population are informed
upon the subject of religion, I had no personal
means of ascertaining ; the higher classes
attend divine service very regularly on Sunday
twice a day, and many of them attend the
week-day service also. The majority attend at
the Methodist chapel, and many of them are
members of the Wesleyan Methodist society:
they are I think particularly attentive, whether
in church or chapel; and though the wish to
display a fine dress is the cause no doubt of the
attendance of many, yet the regularity and
earnestness with which some of them apparently

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WEST INDIES.

listen, speak much in their favour. How far
the truths of the Gospel are believed by them,
so as to have a practical influence upon their
lives, I know not, excepting from general re-
port; but I have heard some such mentioned
as very respectable characters. They contribute
liberally to the society for the support of the
Wesleyan Methodist missionaries. I have
always found the coloured population extremely
civil and polite ; but my experience, with re-
gard to this class of society, has been very
limited, and there are various opinions upon
this subject, and of course those who have
lived longest among them must know them the
best. If I am to judge from their singing,
they seem to possess a much more accurate ear
for music than most white creoles do : though
they often sing in bad taste, yet their tones are
accurately nice, as is their time ; but I never
could discover any thing like true taste or feel-
ing in their singing.

The superior classes of coloured females sel-
dom do much for their own support personally,

WEST INDIES.

79

but they frequently purchase dry goods whole-
sale from the captains of ships or merchants in
town, and retail them afterwards at a consider-
able per-centage. Ribbons, silks, laces, and
gauzes, are generally to be had from some one
or other of them. The other sex are employed
in various ways : some keep retail shops for
dry goods of all descriptions, and others retail
spirits and sell grog. Several are employed
as clerks, either in merchants’ stores, or as
copying clerks to lawyers, &c. ; while others
are tradesmen.

The lower classes of coloured people are, I
think, very vacillating in their character ; —
sometimes they do a little work of any kind at
home, — then they get tired of this, and hire
themselves out as servants. The wages they
receive are never less, and often more, than one
joe per month ; that is, a Spanish Johannes,
worth 3/. 6s. currency, varying in sterling value
according to the exchange ; but during the
time I was in the West Indies, varying from
1/. 7s. or 85. sterling, upwards. The master

80

WEST INDIES.

who hires the servant, either finds him or her
in board, or gives a weekly allowance in
money, which is never less than half, and never
more than one dollar, the value of which is
about 4s. or 4s. 3d. sterling, also of course
varying according to the rate of exchange ; but
there is always something left for the servants
at meal time, in a country where victuals cannot
be kept ; especially in the hot season, when I
have seen poultry, killed early of a morning,
unfit for use at six the same evening. This,
therefore, appears at first sight, a very good
situation ; but it is like many other things
which seem extremely fair sketched upon paper,
but which, in practice, are found very different.

The coloured slave domestic is ten to one
richer, and more comfortable, than the free one;
and I never conversed with a free coloured
domestic, who did not admit this. The free
coloured domestic has 31. 6s. currency, per
month ; and say, at an average, three quarters
of a dollar for his weekly allowance : out of
this he must provide a little food for himself.

WEST INDIES.

81

clothing (a very expensive article for coloured
free servants, who all dress well), &c. There
are few who sleep in their master's house : this
is a matter of convenience on their own part ;
but it is customary for them to have a small
house of their own, so they have house rent to
pay, and the small et ceteras which the posses-
sion of a house entails. They must furnish
their own soap for washing, — their own candle
when they go home at night ; — if sick, the
whole incidental expenses have to be paid by
them ; and if laid aside altogether, they are
miserably off, and are completely dependent
upon the kindness of their former masters, or
other coloured friends who may be in a superior
situation in life ; for they have so many de-
mands for their money, and are generally also
of such improvident habits, that this class of
coloured people, when out of employment or in
sickness, are greatly to be pitied ; and if they
have a family, which is very common, their
situation is truly wretched, for they have
nothing to trust to, — no master, of whom they

82 WEST INDIES.

can demand all the necessaries of life, should
they be sick, or unable, from old age, to work
any longer.

How different is this from the coloured do-
mestic slave ; he has the same money weekly
for his allowance, — the same privileges from
his master’s table; he is furnished with an
annual supply of linen, jean, and nankeen
trowsers, that would rather astound our good
English housewives ; his clothes are washed,
smoothed, and mended for him, without one
thought or anxiety on bis part ; he has every
comfort in sickness,— -medical advice, and all
incidental expenses provided, and, if required,
a sick nurse in attendance. Should he have a
family, no child he has is any burden to him ;
or else, if his wife belong to the same master,
his children increase his comforts ; their allow-
ances commence from the day of their birth,
and it is some years before they can consume
all he receives for them. No accident, dis-
abling him from work, deprives him of a home,
food, clothing, or any necessary comfort, and

WEST INDIES.

83

he looks forward to old age without anxiety, or
the chilling dread of poverty, for himself or his
family.

Coloured slaves are employed in various
ways ; many are tradesmen, some domestics,
while others are hired out by the overseers,
either as servants, or for carrying goods about
the country for sale. Few are employed in
the field, as many of them consider it too
mean an employment, though I have met with
instances of coloured men who had been do-
mestics, and left their places, to wrork in the
fields from their own choice. They are gene-
rally rather more polished than the negro, but
I think they are, if possible, more artful ; and
certainly remember and revenge an affront very
differently from what any negro would do, —
that is, singly, for I do not allude here to the
conduct of negroes when combined. Coloured
slaves can be pretty good servants when they
incline ; but it is rarely they do incline, being
so tenacious of their rank, that they must
always have a negro about them to assist them

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84

WEST INDIES.

in whatever they are about. Th£ir habits are
very expensive, for they know nothing of the
real value of money ; indeed this is a necessary
consequence of the present state of all the slaves,
for being so abundantly supplied by their mas-
ters, with lodging, food, clothing, medical
expenses, and, if females, their children being
rather an assistance than a burden to them ;
they have only to think of providing themselves
with the luxuries and superfluities of life. I
have known a coloured domestic female slave,
who would not demean herself by wearing
anything so vulgar, and as she expressed it,
“ unlike a lady/’ as cotton stockings, and she
regularly walked out with white silk ones. I
have seen a coloured slave in Trinidad, working
in the field, with the finest white jean trowsers,
nice linen shirt, watch, chain, seals, and last,
though not least, Wellington boots ! They
always address each other with much ceremony,
never using the Christian name without putting
Miss, or Sir, before it. This is universal among
coloured slaves ; and even the white population*

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85

in speaking of a coloured female slave, always
call her Miss. To omit these forms, would
appear to them a downright insult, and few
things would displease them so much as to
forget addressing them in this way. I think
the higher classes of negro slaves superior to
them in mental energy, less prone to revenge,
and quite as much civilized in their manners ;
but the majority of common field negroes are
inferior to coloured slaves in those respects.

Deep laid schemes of individual revenge
seem to be characteristic of the lower classes of
the coloured population; and to obtain the truth
from them is difficult beyond measure, since
they, as well as negroes, will swear to anything :
they will tell you a story wherein it often hap-
pens that every second sentence contradicts the
preceding ; and the ending is sure to be,
“ Massa, I am sure I speak all every word
true, I ’ll kiss the book and swear to it.” I
always remarked that where there were the
greatest number of falsehoods, they were the
most vehemently desirous to kiss the book :

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WEST INDIES.

their disregard of an oath is most shocking ; to
speak the truth seems to them almost impos-
sible, and they often invent so cunningly, that
it is difficult to prove the falsehood of that
which all the while you feel convinced is a
tissue of lies. Were I asked what had shocked
me most, of all the immoralities among the
slave, free coloured, and negro population of
the colonies I visited, I should answer, with-
out hesitation — perjury; and what is worse, it
is a sin that they are becoming more and more
addicted to, and which the advice they receive
from the mother country tends to strengthen
them in, for they are told that no white person
speaks truth ; and it is to be lamented, that
these dangerous sentiments are taking strong
and fatal root among them. How far such
sentiments can be reconciled with the multi-
plicity of oaths which every manager of an
estate must take four times a year in Trinidad,
according to the new system, I cannot con-
ceive ; for it is distinctly stated, in Parlia-
mentary speeches, that nothing coming from a

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87

transatlantic colony ought to be believed : how
then can the same party urge the system of
taking oaths, upon every occasion, as to circum-
stances the slightest imaginable ? so that a
watch or clock being too quick or too slow,
might enable a negro to bring forward an in-
stance of perjury in his master or the manager.
This has, in fact, driven more than one upright,
honest man from Trinidad, who felt that no
accuracy of his could protect him from a charge
of perjury upon one score or other.

Many of the free, and not a few of the
coloured slave domestics, of both sexes, have
been in England. I have conversed with
several of them, — but they all disliked it, and
uniformly upon the same grounds; let the
detail of one conversation serve as a specimen.

E. had been long a female coloured slave,
occupied principally about the children of the
family to which she belonged. She was what
may be termed a very superior servant; she
was uniformly extremely well dressed, always
wearing stockings and shoes, with many ex-

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pensive ornaments, and nice Madras hand-
kerchiefs for her turbans. She had gone home
with her master's family, and resided some time
with them in England ; though not at all
clever, she was polite in her manners, and had
no want of common sense. She had permis-
sion from the attorney to work out for herself,
therefore she paid him a certain sum, and he
furnished her with all she required. Her
employment was working with the needle. I
asked her how she liked England, “Not very
well, Misses." u No, what did you dislike
there V’ “ Misses, England be very fine coun-
try to be sure, every thing to be had there,
fine shop and all that ; but Misses, England
very bad country for poor servant ; Misses,
it feared me to see how the servant work there,
and they no thought nothing of neither; Misses,
they work so hard; up early, Misses, they no
stop work sometime past midnight, and then
their Massas and Misses take no thought
of them when they be old ; they no give them
house to live in, Misses. I ’d think it very hard

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89

if I worked for my Massa all the time I ’m able*
and then when I get old he no give me house,
nor nothing. Misses, a slave here be much more
thought of than poor English servant/’ I told
her it was very true ; but that in consideration
for the loss of some of these advantages, some
thought it a sufficient equivalent to be free,
and no longer a slave. <( Well but, Misses,”
added she, ‘6 what signify free, if we starve !”
That many of the coloured slave population
see the superior worldly comforts they enjoy,
compared with their white brethren in free
service in Great Britain, I have had abundant
evidence.

I have often asked coloured domestic slaves
if they would like to go to England ? u Yes
Misses,” answered one of them to whom l asked
the question, “ I’d like to go if you bring me
back, but I no like to top dey.” tl Why not?”
u Misses, England no good country for servant,
they work hard too much.” ** How do you
know that?” “ Cause Misses many that have
been, dey tell me they no like it for the work

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WEST INDIES.

being so bard, and then it be so cowld.” 11 But
if you work actively it prevents your feeling
cold.” “ But Misses, they work, they tell me,
in England constant,™ they no sit down softly
at sun down, as we do,- — but work, work, after
night (during the evening), Misses ; I could not
bear that.” “ But then if you went to England
you would be free.” “Well, Misses, suppose
I was free, I could not have a better Misses
than I have; and she good too much to me
when I ?m sick, and that is what they tell me
white Misses at home take no account of,”

I told F. that servants at home certainly did
work very much harder than in the West
Indies, and were often neglected in sickness
and old age, although many who behaved well
were not forgotten by their former master and
mistress if they required help, or were in
distress : but, added she, “ Misses, they tell me
the Massa may just gie them some little ting,
or no, just as it pleasures him, they cannot ask
for it like me, so indeed Misses I think we be
the best off,”

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91

They always speak of English servants as
very mean, and having no money; and I never
met with one among the numerous coloured
slaves whom I had opportunities of talking to,
who was at all fond of the idea of free domestic
servitude in England.

Those coloured children, who are the illegi-
timate offspring of white men, are, with few
exceptions, free : when they are not so, the
father is most justly detested, and held up as
a character anything but respectable : I never
could hear but of two instances of this. Where
such cases occur, the children are with hardly
any exception freed as soon as born ; and there
is attention, more or less, bestowed upon their
education. Some send them to Europe for that
purpose ; but this I consider a very injudicious
plan, unless they can be so provided for, or put
in the way of providing for themselves, as to
render them independent at home ; for, if they
receive an European education, it totally unfits
them for the scenes they must return to : no
coloured person, who has received a decent

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WEST INDIES.

education at home, could feel happy in the
society of the coloured population of a West
India colony, who are, as a body, very ignorant ;
and it is from observing some cases of this kind,
that I have been convinced, that the best edu-
cation to be obtained without sending them out
of the West Indies, is much more conducive to
their real happiness. Barbadoes possesses very
tolerable schools ; and in Trinidad, education is
now conducted upon so very superior a system,
that there are many elegant and accomplished
white females resident there, who would do
honour toanyEuropean society from their accom-
plishments, and who yet have never been out of
the island; and though undoubtedly the very
best masters are expensive ; yet, taking all
together, these would be found far less costly
than sending a child across the Atlantic, where
every habit and acquisition will infallibly tend
to unfit him for what must be bis or her future
lot. There are, indeed, excellent schools, and
private masters in Trinidad, where coloured
children might receive as great, and much more

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93

prudent advantages of education, than can be
bestowed upon them in Europe* In general,
however, coloured illegitimate children of white
men are not neglected in point of education,
and the more common error is overdoing it, by
placing them for a certain number of years in
society, the whole tone of which is so superior
to that which they must return to.

The relationship to all the branches of a white
family, although illegal, is kept up upon both
sides ; and there is much kindly feeling main-
tained by both parties: all their private domestic
affairs are entered into with interest, and there
is a more universal feeling of this kind between
the legitimate and illegitimate relations of a
family, than is usually to be found in Britain.
Such children are not in the West Indies
received upon a footing of equality; but with
hardly an exception, they are affectionately
attended to, and the illegitimate party fre-
quently visits his father’s even distant relations.
I never heard a creole, who could speak with
patience of a man who could retain his child as

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a slave, — they always used to deplore it, as

unfeeling and unnatural ; but I am convinced,

having made most minute inquiry upon such

subjects, that these cases are very rare indeed,

not occurring near so frequently as they do at

home, in a form quite as objectionable, though

not perhaps so revolting, because the word slave

is unattached to it. I candidly allow that the

illegitimate children of white men have been

retained in a state of slavery ; but I also state

the truth when I say, that such things are

extremely rare, and are quite as much detested

by Transatlantic settlers, as by the residents of

free born Britain : but I also must say, that I

♦

do believe that in the eye of God, he who
retains his child in a state of slavery, while that
child is (to my certain knowledge) amply fur-
nished with every necessary of life, is infinitely
less really culpable than he who in enlightened
Britain abandons his offspring to a scanty
pittance, to be trained perhaps in vice, and
never even knowing to whom he owes his being.

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95

CHAPTER IV.

SKETCH OF THE NEGRO POPULATION.

Overworking negroes— Different classes— The Jielcl
negro — The culture of the sugar cane , and negro
labour in the cultivation — Sugar and rum making
— Various uses of the cane — Negro domestics—
Head servants' — A West India kitchen — ■ Nurses ,
grooms , and ivasherwomen — Tradespeople.

It will be necessary, before attempting any
description of the character and customs of the
negro population, whether free or slave, that
we take a slight view of their employments.

This appears to me the more necessary, as it
has been generally in Britain believed that
negroes are hard worked in the West Indies;
and the common opinion is, that they labour more

96

WEST INDIES.

than the working population of this country.
If there be one sentiment respecting the colo-
nies more erroneous than another, it is this ;
for although I arrived in the West Indies fully
convinced that I should find, and indeed almost
determined to find, every slave groaning under
oppression, yet I was not one month in St. Vin-
cent, before I was compelled from my own ex-
perience of negro character, to be somewhat
sceptical, whether it were possible to overwork
a negro , — and I now feel no doubt upon the sub-
ject : the fact is, they are so perfectly aware
that you must give them all the necessaries of
life, that if they determine not to work, or at
least to do little, how are you to proceed in order
to make them do more ? for even if punishment,
corporal punishment, were resorted to, it is not
dreaded by them half so much as work. Em-
ployment is their abhorrence — idleness their
delight ; and it is from having so minutely
watched their dispositions, habits, and method
of work, that I have come to this conclusion, —
that to overwork a negro slave is impossible.

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97

By far the greater number of the slave popu-
lation are occupied in the culture of the cane;
and as I have heard such false, not to say ludi-
crous descriptions, of the labour necessary for
its cultivation, and of its manufacture into
sugar, the best way is first to give a short
description of the general state of agriculture
I saw’ pursued in the West Indies.

Some people who understand those subjects
may think this unnecessary ; but, as I did once
peruse some public speech, wherein the orator,
in adverting to molasses, said, that he supposed
his hearers were all aware that molasses was
the juice of the cane when first expressed, it
may not perhaps be amiss to inform my readers,
that molasses is the drainings of the sugar after
it is put in the hogshead : — now it would be
well, if the mistakes generally made upon West
Indian affairs were all of this nature ; but the
fact is, that upon subjects of the greatest mo-
ment, equal ignorance is constantly displayed.

But to resume. I shall now describe the usual
negro work, beginning with that in which the

98

WEST INDIES.

great majority of the negroes are engaged, viz.

*

the culture of the sugar cane.

Early in November the land is prepared for
holing : the holes are about fifteen inches deep,
and from three to four feet square, lined regu-
larly off : they are as exact as the squares of a
backgammon-board — this is the hardest work
upon the estate ; and an allowance of rum and
water is distributed to each in the field so
occupied. I have often watched the negroes at
this work for a length of time, and though it is
the hardest work that is required in the culture
of the cane, it is literally nothing, when com-
pared with many of the necessary operations in
the agriculture of Great Britain ; such as plough-
ing, reaping corn, or mowing hay. The weight
of the hoes used in this labour are by no means
unwieldy, or heavy for a grown man or woman ;
and none else are employed in this work. A
great deal has been said about the plough not
being used in this branch of the West Indian
agriculture, but in many of the West India
colonies, the ground is so steep and rocky, as

WEST INDIES.

99

totally to preclude the possibility of such an
attempt ; beside, it never could do the business
neatly ; and the difficulty of having white ser-
vants to plough, renders it a great obstacle
even in those few colonies where the land is
level : it was attempted upon one estate in the
neighbourhood of Kingstown, but no success
attended it; and after the piece was ploughed,
it was found absolutely necessary to send the
negroes in to hole it, before the plants could
be put in. In St. Vincent, it is impossible for
any one who has had a previous eye for country
affairs, not to admire this part of the agricul-
ture : it is done so neatly, and so regularly, that
I have seen a field dressed there that looked at
a short distance as nice as the preparation for
turnip husbandry in Britain.

The work of holing is slowly performed, and
a band of Scotch potatoe hoers would not gain
one meal a day, were they to proceed in the same
leisurely manner; you see the negroes often
two and three at a time standing for many
minutes looking about them, and never raising

F

100

WEST INDIES.

their hoe. When so engaged, they are usually
cheerful, telling laughable stories to each other,
and singing songs, or rather choruses. I never
once heard any of them complain of the work
as too hard ; but I have heard very many of
them express themselves pleased when it was
about to commence, because they had their
additional rum and water. There is a person
regularly appointed to carry water to the field,
the whole year through, whatever they are
engaged in ; always three times ; and if the
weather be particularly hot, it is carried five
times a day. When rum is not given, Man-
dango sugar or molasses is used ; indeed the
women seem at all times to prefer sugar and
water. This is universal.

Planting canes generally commences in the
end of November, or beginning of December;
from three to four plants are put in each square.
The plant consists of the upper joints of the
cane, which contain no saccharine juices, from
eight to nine inches long, with generally five
to six eyes, from which the shoots sprout.

WEST INDIES.

101

This is very light work, and they make it more
so, by trifling over it in such a way, that this
at once strikes the eye of a stranger, -—pre-
mising that stranger to have been in the habit
of watching farming operations in Great Britain.

Weeding the young canes succeeds planting;
it is begun when the cane is about twenty
inches in height : this is very easy work, and
is performed by the children from eight years
and upwards ; they have each hoes, propor-
tioned to their strength. Children are uniformly
preferred for this work, because their feet being
small, they do not tread down the young plants
as a grown person would do.

Stripping canes is the next operation : every
joint of the cane as it grows, throws out two
very long leaves, with serrated edges. From
the powerful sun of that country, these leaves
soon droop, wither, and become dry as straw.
They are therefore stript off the cane, to ex-
pose it to the full effect of the sun’s rays, in
order to ripen it sufficiently, otherwise it would
be unfit for the after progress of sugar making.

f 2

102

WEST INDIES.

These dried leaves are called trash, and are laid
along the ground, to prevent the sun’s influence
on the earth, that every moisture possible may
be retained for the nourishment of the plant.
Part of the trash is used for foddering the
cattle, and it is always used for thatching
houses, and suits equally well as straw. Strip-
ping is light but disagreeable work ; for though
the serrated edges have become too dry to cut
the fingers, they are then brittle, and fly about
like thistle-down. They are stript once, or
many times, according as the season proves wet
or dry.

Cutting canes in general commences in Jan-
uary, at least any thing cut before that time is
merely small cutting, to obtain plants, or make
a few hogsheads before Christmas.

During crop time (that is, harvest) the negroes
are employed in the manufacture of sugar, and
the general agriculture of the estate.

The negroes enjoy crop time, and look for-
ward to it with pleasure : much merriment then
goes on amongst them ; and I never heard or

WEST INDIES.

103

saw more mirth in a British harvest field, than
I have often witnessed in a cane piece. Negroes
have fertile imaginations ; and it is not unusual
for them to compose impromptu, words to their
songs, very often of the most ludicrous nature :
one sings it over once, and the rest join in
chorus. Old stories too, generally of a cheerful
cast, are also employed by them to beguile the
time, exactly in the same way as is customary
in a Scotch harvest field : they may eat as much
of the cane as they like ; and it always struck
me as something out of the way, if I met a
negro during crop-time on the estate, not suck-
ing a cane. They cut off a joint or two, while
at work with their bill, and suck it ; it is parti-
cularly wholesome, nutritious, and agreeable,
when one is thirsty, for its juice is even during
the heat of the day delightfully cool. It is
hardly to be credited the quantity of cane that

is daily consumed in this way during crop-

/

time — this however is not only permitted, but
encouraged, so long as they do not steal the
canes ; but this they universally do, for two pur-

104

WEST INDIES,

poses, feeding their hogs, and selling to huckster
women, who buy the juice from them at the rate
of about fourpence a bottle sterling. These
hucksters boil the juice into syrup and clarify
it, when it is sold for about one shilling and a
penny sterling per bottle. The consequence is
that all slaves, but more especially those in the
vicinity of the towns, live a greal deal annually
upon plunder; but this is overlooked by the
proprietors : were negroes so harshly treated
as is generally supposed, they would not be
suffered to act in this manner without being
punished for it.

Manuring the ground is most generally done
when the cane is about twenty inches high,
after the first weeding. Pens for the stock,
well laid with trash, are put up in different
parts of the estate, so that the manure may
never be far distant from any part of the estate
which requires it. It is carried by mules or
carts; or if too steep for these, by the negroes,
from the pens, in light wicker baskets. These
they carry on their heads ; in fact a negro

WEST INDIES.

105

carries every thing on his head ; and be what
it may, poises it with surprising nicety: give
a little child a tea-cup to carry, and it is always
hoisted on his head; and he will trip off with
as much unconcern as if he had nothing on it,
while his arms are swung on each side like
two pendulums. I have often asked them why
they always carried every thing on their head,
and they uniformly answered, “ what's on the
head we no feel, what on a hand hurt da
shoulder.”

Their carrying manure in this way appears
disagreeable work ; but they laugh at the
stranger who supposes it to be so to the negro,
because it would be so to him : the truth is, in
so far as cleanliness is concerned, the negro is
perfectly indifferent ; these sort of things do
not affect their personal comfort, because their
whole habits and manners of life are different
from Britons : what are comforts and pleasures
to them, would not be so to us ; and what we
esteem as the comforts and luxuries of life, they
would neither thank you for nor make use of.

106

WEST INDIES.

The mills are either worked by water, wind, or
by mules ; they have all a spindle, with side
rollers, all of which are armed with teeth, so
that tbe one works into the other. The turning
of the spindle occasions the revolution of the
two side rollers, all of which are covered with
an iron case ; the diameter from eighteen to
twenty inches, the length from thirty to thirty-
six. These are the most general style of mills ;
but some are to be found erected upon a newer
invention, which are considered as a saving of
labour and water.

The first operation after cutting, is passing
the cane twice through the rollers; the juice
then drops into the mill-bed, which is covered
with sheet lead ; from that being on an inclined
plane, it runs off quickly into a receiver, which
contains from 300 to 500 gallons. When that
receiver is filled, it is drawn off, and conveyed
by a spout from the mill to the boiling-house,
which is always built at some little distance
from the mill, in order to prevent a communi-
cation in case of fire ; it is then received either

WEST INDIES.

107

into a clarifier, if that vessel is used upon the
estate ; or, if not, into the grand copper. When
a portion of the carbonate of lime (the best is
made from the cuttings of marble, and is known
by the name of Bristol temper lime) is added in
different proportions from one to twelve ounces,
in the grand copper, according to the age, ripe-
ness, and luxuriance of the canes, some being
so ripe and old as to require little or no temper
lime. These coppers or boilers are in number
from five to six ; the largest, which is farthest
from the fire, may hold from 300 to 500 gal-
lons ; they decrease in size as they approach the
fire-place, until the smallest of them, which is
called the teach, decreases to 70 or 80 gallons.
By the time the juice has been boiled down
from the grand copper containing 500 gallons,
to the teach over the fire containing 70 or 80
gallons, the sugar then nearly approaches to
granulation. The time that- this process oc-
cupies depends entirely on the state of the
weather ; for when the weather is dry, and the
canes ripe, a strike of sugar (which is the con-

r 3

108

WEST INDIES.

tents of the smallest copper) may be taken off in
three quarters of an hour or an hour ; but
should the weather be showery, the fuel is
damp, and there is what is technically termed
a spring in the canes, which produces such
watery juices, that more boiling is necessary to
evaporate those watery particles before granu-
lation takes place : this destroys the quality of
the sugar, from having been so long on the fire.
The head boiler-man is at the teach, and is
a person of no small consequence, as he is re-
sponsible for the cleanliness of the boiling-
house : at each of the other coppers there is a
negro to assist, who are also responsible to him.
When the head boiler-man thinks it probable
that the liquor is nearly approaching to granu-
lation, he puts in a copper skimmer, and turning
it two or three times in the air, he knows by
the consistency of the drop, whether the liquor
is likely to granulate sufficiently ; or if too
much so, he adds some portion of the liquor in
the second teach, to reduce it. As soon as he
finds it in a proper state to strike, that is, to

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109

send it by means of a spout from the teach to
the wooden cooler, he then performs this opera-
tion. There are always from two to three
wooden coolers, each being able to contain from
five to six strikes, that is, a hogshead of sugar,
generally averaging at the king’s beam about
fifteen cwt. According to the size of the estate,
there is made from one to three hogsheads per
day ; but if there are two sets of coppers, it will
produce nearly double that quantity.

The sugar collected in the different boilings
throughout the day, is next morning put in the
hogsheads, as nearly as can be guessed, at a
certain temperature ; this requires some nicety,
for if it is put too hot into the hogshead, the
molasses carry off a great part of the sugar
through the curing holes of the hogshead into
the cistern made to receive the molasses. If,
on the contrary, it is put into the hogshead too
cold, it retains the molasses, and this of course
spoils the sugar.

After being put into the hogshead, it remains
from twelve to fifteen days in the curing-house,

no

WEST INDIES.

to afford time for the molasses to drain
thoroughly from it ; it is next rammed down
with heavy rammers or mallets, until the
hogshead is perfectly filled ; and it is then
headed up by the cooper, marked with the
name of the estate and number of hogshead
and weight, and carted to be shipped for Great
Britain*

I have already mentioned that the dry leaves
of the cane were stripped off several times, and
used for the various purposes of foddering
cattle, thatching negro houses, and occasionally
for fuel, &c. The green upper leaves of the
cane, which remain on the plant until it is
ripe, are cut and carried home for the use of
the stock* They are cut by a machine called a
top-cutter, into very small fine pieces, and the
mangers are then filled with it ; a certain pro»
portion of the skimmings from the sugar, or of
molasses, with plenty of water and a few
handfuls of salt, are added ,* and however hard
the work may be, the stock improves and
fattens upon this food* Migass is the rind and

WEST INDIES.

Ill

substance of the cane, after it has been passed
through the mill ; it is made up into small
bundles, and carried to a house called the
migass-house, a building from fifty to one
hundred feet long, and from fifteen to twenty
broad, where it is regularly and neatly packed,
until the house can hold no more. A few days
after the house has been filled, the migass goes
through the process of fermentation: in the
course of a month this entirely ceases, and it
becomes quite dry, light, and soft, and is con-
sidered the best fuel possible for the boiling
of sugar.

O

After it has been consumed as fuel, the ashes
are considered of great value as a manure,
(having been converted into pot-ass), and being
mixed with other manure, they form one of the
very best composts, so that the cane is a pecu-
liarly valuable plant ; every part of it being of
use either in one way or another.

The next process is the distillation of rum,
which is made in casks usually containing 300
gallons, about the proportion of seventeen pails

112

WEST INDIES.

of water, each pail containing five gallons ; 25
gallons of molasses, 20 of the skimmings of
sugar ; and when the fermentation takes place,
the remaining space is filled up with water.
These proportions are however slightly varied,
according to the richness of the molasses. It
remains fermenting from eight to ten days,
according to the heat of the still-house loft,
which ought to be at the temperature of from
70 to 86 degrees of Fahrenheit’s thermometer.
When the head distiller sees that the fermenta-
tion has subsided, which is called the falling
of the liquor, it is then drawn off and distilled.

I consider this to be a tolerably accurate
sketch of the regular work upon a sugar estate :
there are other minor jobs also occasionally to
be attended to out of crop-time ; such as cutting
wood, trimming fences, and keeping up the
general cultivation of the estate, until crop
again commences.

Slaves who are not employed in agriculture,
are either occupied as domestics or as tradesmen.

Nothing surprises an European, on his first

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113

arrival in the West Indies, so much as the
manners and customs of negro servants.

There is in every gentleman’s family, a man

who styles himself Mr.~ ’& head servant; his

duty is merely to see that the boys under him
clean the plate, knives and forks, wash the
dinner, breakfast, and tea service, &c. He sees
them lay the cloth and arrange the table for the
different meals of the family ; and he stands in
the room during dinner, with the air of an
emperor, pointing occasionally to the boys what
to do, and bestowing abundance of scolding
upon them ; nor will the repeated entreaties of
his master or mistress, to have done teazing the
others, and do his own duty, have any effect :
scolding he considers his peculiar privilege,
and forego this privilege he will not. He at
times removes a dish or plate, and places it in
the hand of one of the boys ; but in general he
is a mere cipher, as far as use is concerned,
and yet were the boys left without him, you
could not get on at all. I attempted this; but
such a scene of confusion and anarchy ensued,

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that I found* from experience, that bad as
despotism may be, it is a far less evil than a
republic. This head man, or rather gentleman
—■for he would be highly incensed were he
treated without the utmost deference to his
rank, is also employed in some families to go
to market, — an occupation which he likes ; for
he makes no small profit by it in various ways,
which, however, it is not our business at present
to treat of. This is the whole work of a head
servant,* however, I can assure my readers, that
he does groan, nevertheless, under the oppression
of so much exertion ; and that nothing short of
twelve hours’ sleep, and twelve hours’ lounging
in the twenty-four, will ever make him con-
tented. Some have coloured men as head
servants ; but whether negro, coloured, slave
or free, there is not a perceptible shade of
difference in the duty that is performed by
them.

The cook is frequently a male, and is also a
person of consequence ; he has, if the family be
large, either a boy or a woman to assist him;

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115

he cooks only soups, meat, fish, and vegetables,
nor would he submit to the hardship of baking
bread, or making pastry, or puddings. The
wood used in cookery is cut, and put down for
him, and all the water provided ; and it is
rarely that he will wash or scour the pans, or
kitchen utensils, — some younger boy or girl
being employed for that purpose.

A West India ^kitchen is so different from
an English one, that some description of it may
be necessary, to make those who have not seen
one comprehend how much less a cook is
exposed to the influence of the fire, than in an
English one. The floor is either earth, brick,
or stone ; there are numerous windows, not
glazed, but with wooden shutters to fasten
down at night, with probably jalousies to ex-
clude the sun and rain — in this way the air
is necessarily freely admitted ; the chimney is
extremely wide, and there is most frequently
no grate, but merely a piece of brick-work,
about four feet long, and three feet broad, upon
which the wood is placed ; and they make more

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WEST INDIES.

or less fire, according to the dinner they have
to cook. The face is in this way not exposed
to the blaze of the fire nearly so much as in an
English kitchen. There is an oven in every
kitchen, upon the same principle as a baker’s
oven ;-~the wood being put in and burnt down,
so that when it is fully heated, it is swept out
before the bread or meat is put in. There is no
roasting-jack: many gentlemen have attempted
to get the negroes to use a jack, but in vain ;
they must have their own way of it, which is
simply accomplished by placing two strong logs
of wood on each side the fire, and a strong nail
in each log to support the spit, which they
employ some of their assistants to turn, — and in
this way they send up meat tolerably well
roasted ; but the oven is often also employed for
that purpose. This is, I think, considered
the whole duty of a cook, whether male or
female.

In many families, a head female servant
is employed, to assist the lady in dressing,
work with the needle; or bake pastry, make

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11?

puddings, &c. These are dishes which make
their appearance rarely ; and a waiting maid
considers she does very well if she assists her
mistress in dressing, and does about as much
work with her needle in one day, as her mistress
in one hour, — she has generally a young girl
under her, who attends to the bed-chamber,
and this is never thoroughly done ; yet this is all
that is required of them, and indeed it is all
they will do. The other servants are employed
in cleaning the house ; and their number, and
particular employments, are wholly dependent
upon the family to which they belong ; for of
course where the family is large, there must
be an increase of servants.

The office of a groom ought, one would
imagine, to be precisely the same as in England,
but that the negro groom makes it a very
different office, is no less true. In fact, no
horse is brushed or curried, far less, properly
fed, unless the master stands by and sees it
done : the oats sell well in the market ; and
besides, the groom can feed his own poultry

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WEST INDIES.

with the oats : and it need not be said, that he
prefers fattening his own fowls to feeding his
master’s horse.

The domestics who officiate as washerwomen,
have nothing else to do. Perhaps the best
way of making my readers comprehend the
mode in which they perform this work, is to
refer them to the notice of this subject at the
commencement of the volume. With respect to
the time which they require for the performance
of their labour, I have had trials of many
different washerwomen— some slaves and some
free— but I never found that fourteen dozen of
clothes, such as are commonly used in a
family, could be washed and got up from Mon-
day morning to Saturday evening by less than
three able bodied women. They never used
less, but generally more, than twice the quantity
of soap, blue, and starch, required by washer-
women at home ; and of all your troublesome
establishment, the washerwomen are the most
discontented, unmanageable, and idle. It is
altogether out of the question ever to look for

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119

all the articles coming back that went out;
and the destruction of clothes and linens, in
consequence of their carelessness, is past belief.
I have myself in one twelvemonth had six
dozen of chamber towels, a bed-quilt, two pairs
of sheets, stockings without number, pocket
handkerchiefs and petticoats to a considerable
amount, lost, or more probably stolen, in this
way ; — for I knew perfectly, that they were
appropriated to their own use, as I not unfre-
quently detected the articles in their possession
after they thought a sufficient length of time
had elapsed for me to forget the loss of them.
Every thing, as I have said, is ill washed in the
West Indies; they smooth down frills and
flounces along with the gown, making every
article of a lady’s dress as stiff' as buckram.
They insist, whether you will or not, upon
rubbing the smoothing iron over with candle-
grease, to make it pass, as they say, easily
over the linen ; and when I absolutely refused
giving candle for this purpose, they stole it
themselves, and used it in spite of me.

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WEST INDIES.

The^e are some superior free coloured women
who will condescend to get up clean muslins ;
but the most that can be said is, that they do
it better than the negroes, though far from well,
and at an exorbitant rate, asking 2s. 6d.
sterling for one gown,— -so that it is needless to
say they are rarely employed.

With respect to the number of domestics
required in a family,™ that necessarily depends
upon the number of the family, the style in
which they live, and the home they reside in ;
but a moderate family, who would live genteelly
and comfortably in an English city with three
maid servants and one man, and the washing
put out, would require at least ten grown up
servants, and from five to six young people,
from ten to seventeen or eighteen years of age ;
and after all, the house, and general work,
would be very indifferently done. This I con-
sider a very fair average; but if the family
exceeded five or six, such an establishment
would be found insufficient.

These I think are now all the different em~

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121

ployments of domestic slaves, excepting those
who have the care of children : in such a case
the mother is uniformly hand nurse ; for all
West India ladies are patterns in this respect;
their solicitude and personal activity in attend-
ing to their young children, being beyond
praise. Therefore a nurse has little work, com-
paratively with the duties attached to that office
in Britain. Her nights are undisturbed, and
no responsibility is attached to her; and it is
very rarely that she either dresses or washes
the baby. Nurses consider themselves quite
ladies, and would not so far forget their dignity
as to wash their own clothes, brush out a room,
or indeed do anything but carry young miss or
master.

But there are many slaves whose master
possesses no landed property, and who are
nevertheless employed as field negroes : many
respectable families are wholly dependent upon
the annual hire of a gang of slaves ; while
others possess a number of tradesmen, whose
hire is of course much more than that of a field

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WEST INDIES.

negro. Others have many slave domestics,
whom they hire out ; — the work of those slaves
is the same as if employed by their own master.

As to tradesmen, they are coopers, carpenters,
masons, &c. ; and the value of good domestics
and tradesmen is considerably above that of the
common field negro ; but the head negroes upon
estates, such as drivers and boiler-men, rank
with the tradesmen. Some slaves, both co-
loured and negro, are employed in selling dry
goods for their master, or are hired out to do so
for others ; they are generally clever, valuable
people who are so employed ; and this sort of
wandering life is relished by them ; but in the
majority of cases they give an inaccurate ac-
count of the money received; although I have
known some wonderfully correct in this parti-
cular, who scrupled not to steal at any other
opportunity.

Negroes who have lived much with coloured
creoles, acquire a servile manner that is very
disagreeable; and most of those who are em-
ployed in huckstering goods, either are hired

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123

to, or belong to those people who are greatly
less indulgent to their slaves. Having given
this short sketch of the general employment of
slaves, I shall proceed to some description of
their style of life as regards food, clothing, and
lodging ; and as most erroneous ideas are enter-
tained upon these subjects, it will be neces-
sary to go into the whole detail of particulars;
and I can only assure my readers, that I shall
state nothing which I did not for years daily
witness, and which, were they to visit the
colonies, as I have, and take the same trouble
of personal investigation, they would find to be
the unexaggerated truth.

G

WEST INDIES.

CHAPTER V.

THE NEGRO POPULATION.

Negro ideas of comfort — ■ Houses and furniture —
Cooking — Gardens — Correction of prevailing
errors .

Estates negroes being the most numerous,
I shall begin with their style of life as re-
gards lodging, food, clothing, and comforts
during sickness and old age. The negro
houses of an estate are placed altogether, re-
sembling a village of huts. An author whom
I once read upon West Indian affairs, but who,
like most writers upon that subject, had never
been in the country, says, “ Negroes live in
dwellings like stables:77 now the fact is, I
never could find, although I often tried, from
whence he drew the similitude : had he said
that the white population of the West Indies

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125

lived very generally in barns, he would not
have exaggerated much — for nineteen houses
out of twenty, are more like barns than any-
thing else ; having the sides nearly open, and
the rafters uncovered, without any ceiling.
Their appearance is at first most uncomfortable ,*
but a few months’ experience accustoms the
eye to this manner of building, which is cooler,
and leaves no room for rats and other vermin
to establish themselves, as they do in a ceiled
roof ; so that in spite of West India houses
being more like barns than dwelling-houses,
they are preferred so.

I only dwell thus upon the subject in order
to convince my readers, how perfectly unable
those who have not lived in a country are, to
judge wisely of the houses necessary for the
comfort of its inhabitants ; and how very ridi-
culous such comparisons appear to those who
have resided there, and who can, from expe-
rience, judge of the dwellings most appropriate
to the convenience of those resident in such
a country.

g 2

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WEST INDIES.

Place a negro in a comfortable little cottage,
built after the English fashion,— -his neat fire-
side, — -his nice-looking bed, blankets, and
warm curtains, — a glass window ; — give him
an English breakfast, tea, and supper, and also
English clothing, and you would make him
quite as unhappy as an English ploughman
would be in a negro house, with negro fare and
clothing. It is our bounden duty, as Chris-
tians, to instruct the negroes in religion, and
help them forward in civilization ; but if by
civilization it is intended to make them live in
the same manner as Europeans, I would say
that the negroes would not submit to such an
arrangement ; and beyond a doubt, it would
make them most uncomfortable and unhealthy.
Every country has its own customs, and these
customs are the result of the climate, which dic-
tates even to the savage how to eat, lodge and
clothe himself. Many most important improve-
ments might doubtless be made in all these
matters ; but they must be improvements upon
the same plan now existing ; for as to intro-

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127

ducing English customs, this would be both
cruel and unwise. I therefore assert that the
negroes are comfortably lodged ; but it is a
comfort appropriate to their character and
country, and would as ill suit with an English
peasant’s ideas of comfort, as an English pea-
sant’s would with theirs.

I landed in St. Vincent with my head full
of those ideas respecting slavery which have
been so long popular, and which are at this
moment about to effect such important changes;
but I was not so utterly carried away by pre-
conceived notions, as to be insensible to the
opportunity now afforded me of investigating
the subject personally. As soon therefore as I
could understand the negro’s broken language,
and Was sufficiently accustomed to the climate
to walk out, I made a point of passing almost
every afternoon among the different estates
within reach of Kingstown. In these walks, I
had daily and abundant opportunities of seeing
the field people at work, and of visiting them
in their houses, and chatting with them fami-

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liarly. Having therefore informed my readers
of the means by which I was enabled to make
the observations I have done, I shall at once
proceed to describe their houses, which are, as
I before observed, placed all together, so as to
resemble a little village.

The houses are built in various ways, some
of stone, cemented by mud and white- washed;
some are built of wood, while others are wove
like basket work,-— the interstices being filled
up with clay and mud, which, when white-
washed, look very nice. They thatch them
neatly with migass. They have no chimneys, as
they rarely work in doors. As to the size of
their house, that is in some measure dependent
upon the rank of the negro, and the number in
family. Generally speaking, the area of negro
houses varies from fifteen feet by twenty, to
twenty feet by thirty. Some single men and
single women have a house with only one sitting
room, and a smaller chamber apart for their
bed-room. But head negroes, or families, have
always two good rooms, and some have three.

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129

They have windows according to the size and
number of their rooms, with window shutters to
let down at night. All the houses have locks
to their doors, which are made of wood by the
negroes, and fasten very securely ; many, how-
ever, supply themselves with padlocks besides.
The floor is generally earthern, but the best
room is often boarded. Negroes of character
and rank, — Tor I know not how better to
express myself, being more civilized, have many
articles of furniture. Among others they have
bedsteads with mosquito curtains, their bedding
being for the most part a bag filled with the
dried plantain leaf. This I have myself slept
upon, and used in my own family, and have
found it a very comfortable bed indeed. They
have a bolster and pillows of the same materials ;
blankets (one Witney blanket is given every
year by the master), a good sheet, and very
often a nice bed-quilt; the two latter articles
are furnished by themselves. A little shelved
corner cupboard, displaying many a showy
coloured plate, cup, and saucer, is a common

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piece of furniture; a good table, one or two
benches, and some chairs, with a high table to
serve as a sideboard, upon which are displayed
the tumblers and wine glasses, often a large
shade for the candle, — these, with their box
of clothes, form the general furniture of a good
industrious negro’s house, who is probably a
head man ; for a common field negro, although
he can afford all this, has not in general reached
that stage of civilization that engenders the
desire of possessing such articles. The cooking
utensils are very few and simple, consisting of
two or three iron pots, in which the negro
makes his soup, stews, See. A strong wooden
pestle and mortar is to be found in all their
houses, for beating the boiled plantain down to
a mash, a favourite dish they call “ tum-turn,”
They cook in a little thatched shed close to
their houses, but not attached to them. A
hog-sty, and a place for their poultry, which
they rear in great quantities, are also adjoining
their house. Indeed, the better sort of negroes
have their dwellings often extremely neat and

WEST INDIES.

13]

clean ; many a Scotch cottager might blush
to see them.

As soon as a negro girl attains the age of
sixteen or seventeen, she probably gets a hus-
band; and the male children perhaps a year or
two later, get wives, when of course they have
houses of their own ; negroes, therefore, never
have many children living with them. On
occasion of a marriage, it is often necessary to
build a house, and there is then usually a merry
making ; the master or manager deals out rum
and sugar to those who have helped to build it,
and the new comer frequently gives a supper on
the night he takes possession.

The houses of the common field negroes are
built exactly of the same materials, and on the
same plan with those described ; but some few
have not three rooms, though most of them
have an additional chamber, and a small place
where they keep their cooking utensils. In
good weather, they all cook in the open air
before their house door ; and if it be rainy, they
kindle a fire in the middle of the room, and the

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door is left open to make an outlet for the
smoke. Many field people have bedsteads,
amd some have curtains. The plantain leaf
bed is general, and blankets are annually pro-
vided; some have sheets; but these are luxuries
which many of them do not value, and would
not use. You may guess almost to a certainty
as to the character and degree of civilization of
a negro, by the general appearance of his house.
A table, chair, and bench, is to be found in
every house; also a box, with the inmates5
clothes ; but those who are idle, lazy, savage,
or of bad character (and there are few estates
that can boast of having none of that de-
scription), are destitute of these comforts.

I have paid great personal attention to the
manner in which negroes are lodged, because it
seems to be thought in England that they are
in this respect quite neglected. After having
visited negro houses without number, I do not
hesitate to say that negroes are more comfort-
ably lodged than the working classes of either
England or Scotland. You cannot fail to re-

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133

mark upon every estate, that the work people’s
houses are placed in the healthiest situation,
never so elevated as to be cold, nor so low
as to be damp : the drains round them, or water
paths, as the negro calls them, are watched
with the greatest care, and kept clean, and
nothing that could create damp is suffered
to be near their houses. No inhabited house
is ever allowed to be out of repair; neither
is it left to the negro to ask for what may
be necessary; the houses are examined very
frequently by the white people, and during

their master’s time, they are employed in making

*

all tight and comfortable before the rainy season
commences.

I recollect walking one evening over a most
lovely estate in Kingstown valley : it was in
the midst of crop time, when all were as busy
as possible. All the negro houses I passed
were shut up, excepting one, whose open door
attracted my attention. A nice clean-looking
negro woman eyed me for a moment ; I said,
“ Good evening,” as is usual in passing a

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WEST INDIES.

negro : but she looked again, and said, “ Eh
misses, you no know me.” I was sorry I
could not directly say that I did, for negroes
cannot bear to be forgotten. She saw, however,
that I did not recollect her; and she said,

“ Misses, me L , you no mind me when I

corned to make cake.” 1 now did recollect
her, and she added, “ Never mind misses, wont
you come in and see my house?” I did so, and
she dusted two chairs, and two stools for my
children, and bringing out a plateful of cassada
cake, she gave each of them some, saying she
was sorry she had no ripe plantain or banana
down to gie ’em, I said, (e So you don’t work
now.” “ No misses, no for one month gone
by.” (She expected to be confined in a month).
“ And how do you employ yourself?” “ I
makes mobee , and takes it down to town and
sells it.” “ And what is your husband ?” “ He
just a field negro.” “You have got supper
boiling there I see.” “Yes misses, the calialou
pot.” “You seem to have a very nice house.”
“ Yes misses, I’ll shewT you the chamber and

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135

she accordingly opened a door which displayed

A

their bed, with mosquito curtains, and their
boxes of clothes. While leaving the house of
this common field negro’s wife, and glancing at
the neatness and cleanness of the apartments,
and the display of useful articles of furniture,
as much, or more than the climate required, f
could not avoid drawing a comparison between
the situation of this woman, exempted from
toil, provided with every necessary— with no
anxiety as to the event at hand, no doctor, no
nurse, no cordials to pay for,— and the condition
of her who, among the labouring classes of
England, must work often to the very hour
of her confinement ; and whose hard gained
earnings, joined with that of her husband’s,
are all absorbed in the purchase of half the
comforts which she requires.

All negroes have a piece of ground behind
their houses for a garden : some will not be at
the trouble to keep this ground clean, and
weeds and vegetables accordingly grow pro-
miscuously j but there are others who keep it

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WEST INDIES.

very neat, with grenadillas, water melons, and
vines growing in order and profusion. This
fruit they carry to market, and it is a bad vine
that will not yield them 21. sterling per annum.
In this garden they have sweet cassada, Lima
beans, calialou, tanias, gub-a-gub, peas, pigeon
pea bushes, &c. : probably in December they
sow English peas, and plant cabbages for the
market: those negroes, who incline to make
money in this way, are all furnished by their
master or the manager with English seeds.
Pines also are generally cultivated in the negro
garden. This back garden is a great comfort
to a negro; because here he has all the neces-
sary vegetables, for daily use, so that in case
of his having but little time to spare, or in case
of bad weather, he can supply himself without
going to his provision-grounds, which are far-
ther distant than his garden. But plantains
and yams keep well for more than a week after
they are brought down from the provision-
grounds. These gardens are always fenced
round, and generally are covered over with Lima

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137

and other creole beans for soup. If a negro
has not a good garden, it is his own fault ; for
his master gives him ground for it, and every
encouragement to improve it, by furnishing him
with plants and seeds ; and in that country so
very little labour is necessary to raise a super-
abundance of excellent roots, vegetables, and
fruits, that when a sugar house is found without
this comfort attached to it, there is no difficulty
in pronouncing the inhabitant to be a lazy,
good-for-nothing character.

Those negroes who have not a regular made
bedstead, have four posts driven into the floor
of the room, and sticks placed cross-ways like
a lath-bottomed bed : these bedsteads are always
raised two or three feet above the floor, and the
plantain leaf mattrass is placed upon them.
This is the ivorst species of bed known among
negroes ; and it must not be forgotten that
those slaves who have not a regular bedstead,
curtains, and sheets, with other articles of
household furniture, are not destitute of them
from utter inability to procure them, which is

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WEST INDIES.

by far the most usual cause of the absence of
the common comforts of life in Great Britain.
If a slave have not some household furniture, it
is because he is indifferent to the comfort of it:
and there are indeed some who have only a
bed, table, and bench, with cooking utensils,
who are very good people ; but who do not
consider household furniture as a comfort ;
the possession of it would confer upon them no
happiness ; and they either spend their money
in fine clothes or jewellery, or as frequently
happens, hoard up their savings, which they
tie up in a piece of dirty rag, and thrust it
under the thatch of the house, or put it into
some hole. There is no more absurd error than
to suppose that men in all classes of society,
and in different countries, require the same
things to render them comfortable. The Tong
merchant prefers his chop-sticks to your silver
forks ; the English labourer prefers his own
beer to the squire’s claret ; the Andalusian
would sooner stretch himself on boards, than
sink into a down bed ; and the negro neither

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139

understands the refinements of a gentleman nor
requires the comforts of an European. Negroes
are well off, according to their ideas of comfort
and the climate in which they reside : they are
abundantly supplied ; and I am by no means
sure that we should be conferring any benefit by
introducing European fashions in the colonies —
so that, while I would labour to civilize and
inform the negro, which will by and by pro-
duce all its effects, — taste, among others, — I
would also studiously avoid suddenly intro-
ducing, or unnaturally encouraging artificial
wants ; which, although originally luxuries,
become in time necessary to comfort.

Instruct the negro in religion, teach him to
be cleanly and orderly; but, as you value his
true happiness, introduce no artificial wants :
he enjoys his calialou soup as much out of his
calibash, as the nobleman does his turtle soup
in the finest chased silver ; and it is cruelty,
not benevolence, to teach him to be discontented
with the things he possesses. I shall therefore
conclude this chapter, by assuring my readers

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WEST INDIES.

that from the results of long personal experience,
I can avouch that negroes are lodged infinitely
better than, with few exceptions, the working
population of England.

Negroes who live in town as domestics, have
always a boarded floor to their houses. I have
seen a few single men and women who had
only one room, but such houses are by no means
common. They have good bedsteads, bedding
of plantain leaf, feather bolster and pillows,
good blanket, sheets and coverlet ; chairs, sofa,
cupboard, and mahogany table. I have fre-
quently seen a side-table with tumblers, and
shades for the candle ; looking-glass, two or
three boxes full of clothes, showy prints in gilt
frames, &c. &c. They always keep their houses
clean and tidy inside, and have a great variety
of stone-ware in the shape of plates, tea-cups,
&c. ; but these are seldom bought by them,
being generally stolen, and are regularly dis-
played merely for ornament — a calibash being
the usual substitute, for holding their victuals,
and being equally clean with a china bowl, it

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141

is preferred by them ; for it costs nothing,
Negroes who have been in England, always
complained to me that there was u noting for
noting in England ,” meaning, in plain English,
that for the most trifling article payment must
be given ; whereas they are by nature supplied
in the West Indies with a variety of real
comforts. Thus the calibash tree, which grows
every where in abundance, is full of ripe fruit
four times every year ; the fruit may be cut,
from the size of a common orange to something
larger than the largest man’s head. The inside
is of no use, and is hollowed out, and then the
rind forms all sorts of cups, bowls, and bottles,
as the negro says, “ for nothing,” but the
trouble of picking up and scraping it out.

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CHAPTER VI.

THE NEGRO POPULATION.

Negro dress - — Expensive notions— Jewellery and per-
fumery—Eeffi ects of climate— Erroneous notions.

Negro clothing is distributed annually at
Christmas, at which season the ships arrive
from England. It consists of strong blue
woollen cloth, called Pennistowns — (the same
that is so generally worn by the lower classes
of females in Scotland for petticoats) ; that
sort of coarse, strong, unbleached linen, known
by the name of Oznabrags • a felt hat, needles,
thread, tape, scissors, and buttons, to the men.

Of the blue Pennistowns, they receive every
year at Christmas six yards, a yard and half

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wide. Of the linen, five yards. The allowance
of clothing for children depends upon their age;
but after twelve years of age, the full quantity
is given. Additional clothing is afterwards
distributed to those whose work is harder, and
very often indeed also to those whose careless-
ness has deprived them of clothing ; for during
the rainy season— -clothed they must he. Every
individual, from birth, receives one blanket
annually; and in the event of an accouchement,
there is absolutely not a want that is not sup-
plied. I have often been in their houses at
such times, and could not help thinking, how
much better off they were for clothing, bedding,
and baby-linen, than the great majority of the
lower ranks in Britain.

Their gala dresses are provided very often by
themselves, although their master and mistress
make many presents of this kind to the de-
serving. Field negroes dress in some respects
differently from town servants.

Head negroes upon estates, in full dress at
holiday time, are extremely gay. They have

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all fine broad cloth, either made into jackets,
such as gentlemen very often wear of a morning
in the West Indies, or coats: they have neat
waistcoats, either of black kerseymere, or white
jean — as they are quite aware that a coloured
waistcoat is not dress — their shirt is always of
fine linen, and the collar of a fashionable shape,
which, with the cravat, is as stiff as any reason-
able dandy could desire. White jean, or linen
trowsers, are the usual wear ; all head people
have shoes, and all servants have stockings,
and a long cloth coat ; this is given them by
their master ; but the country people often
purchase those articles for themselves. I have
seen an estate negro in St. Vincent, dressed at
Christmas time as well in every respect as any
gentleman could be; and he was a slave whose
master was, and had been long absent : he told
me every thing he wore was of his own pur-
chasing : he had a quizzing glass, and as good
a hat as any white man in the colony ; he had
a watch ribbon and key, but whether or not he
wore a watch, I cannot tell, as I did not put

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145

the question to him ,* but I have seen many
with watches and seals. The more common
field people have equally good shirts, trowsers
and waistcoats ; but they have seldom or ever
long coats, though frequently good broad cloth
jackets ; but the most common fashion for them
is white jean, or striped coloured jean jackets.
They do not often wear shoes, and never
stockings.

The boys are extremely well dressed ; and as
thev all receive, a new hat at Christmas, this
adds to the general neat appearance of the
negro population at that season.

As for the women, I hardly know how to
describe their gala dresses, they are so various.
The wives or daughters of estates’ head people,
have the best of course — if I except domestics,
who dress still gayer. They have fine worked
muslin gowns, with handsome flounces ; satin
and sarsenet bodices are very common ; their
under garments are of the best materials, and
they have either good cotton or silk stockings ;
their kid dancing shoes are often of the gayest

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WEST INDIES.

colours, while their expensive turbans are
adjusted with a grace, that makes the dress
really appear elegant.

It is common for them to have not a hair
dresser, but a head dresser, or rather a turban
putter on, upon such occasions ; and for the
mere putting on of the turban, they pay a
quarter dollar,— not less than Is. 1 d. sterling ! !
This is a custom not confined to domestics, but
predominates throughout all ranks of the female
slave population. They have all beautiful
handkerchiefs upon their necks; some are of
British manufacture, but many are costly silk
ones from Martinique, — while others wear them
of India muslin.

The real value of their jewellery is con-
siderable; it consists of massy gold ear-rings,
and rings upon their fingers. Coral necklaces,
and handsome gold chains, lockets, and other
ornaments of this description. The more com-
mon field female negro, very often if elderly,
is decked out in a very large patterned chintz,
or perhaps the bodice is made of this, while the

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147

skirt is of muslin * or, vice versa , the shirt
chintz, and bodice and sleeves muslin. They
all have one really good necklace ; but they
often also wear along with it, half a dozen
other necklaces, of coloured glass beads, such
as light blue, yellow, white, and purple. Every
negro has a garnet necklace ; all have ear-
rings, and rings on their fingers: and at
Christmas time, a handsome new turban too is
worn. The very youngest baby is well dressed
at such a time, and even for a child they
scorn old clothes ; indeed it rarely happens that
the same dresses are worn twice at Christmas.
I have heard them say to each other, “look
at so and so, see how mean she be, she wore
that very same dress last Christmas.” White
muslin frocks, and a nice new handkerchief
for the children as a turban, are universally
worn : abundance of coloured beads, ear-rings,
and finger-rings. Some few, whose mothers
are fashionable waiting maids, put shoes, gene-
rally coloured ones, upon their children ; but
the country children never wear them.

n

148

WEST INDIES.

Both girls and boys are fond of coloured
ribbons ; the boys wear them round the hat,
set off with a smart bow, and the girls wear
them as a sash. This is the only piece of half
worn dress that a negro will condescend to
wear; but ribbons, although half worn, are
much valued by the young people. Their
dresses are made up very often by their mis-*
tress and her family: for two months before
Christmas, and also before Easter, I used to
be as busy as possible, cutting out dresses,
superintending the trimmings, and inventing
different fashions for them, — for they imagine
that what is too common, cannot be very
genteel. As for the men, their shirts and
trowsers must be cut for them ; and many a
pair have I superintended in this way, and
have occasionally, though not in St. Vincent,
acted as tailor. Negroes fancy that a white
lady can do every thing ; and they say, “ Misses,
if you no do for me, who you do it for?’? In
this way their tailoring and dress-making is
most generally executed; and really I do think,

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149

that the negroes in full dress during the holidays,
contented and happy as they used to be, was one
of the most interesting scenes imaginable. Both
men and women have nice white pocket-hand-
kerchiefs to wipe away the perspiration ; and
both sexes, young and old, are perfumed with
French lavender water: indeed so common is
this, that I was surprised soon after my arrival
by one of our servants asking me one day for
some lavender water, as his was done. There
was to be company that evening • and I after-
wards observed, that the men servants were in
the habit, whenever they were in dress, of
using perfumes.

After such a description as the foregoing,
my readers may naturally inquire how it is,
if the negroes both receive so much clothing,
and also purchase so much for themselves, that
they appear often as if they had scarcely a rag
to cover them : this arises from two causes ; the
first is that a sense of decency is scarcely known
to the savage, and thus it is that it is easy to
trace the progress of civilization in different

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150

WEST INDIES.

negroes, according to their style of every-day
dress. Another reason is, the heat of the
climate, which renders it quite impossible for
any one to wear in that country the same
clothing as in England ; and it is no exaggera-
tion to say, that the modesty of that lady who
would appear in England with no thicker
clothing than she can endure in the West
Indies, would be thought rather questionable.
Wearing the finest flannel next the skin is
always considered safe, and it certainly does
not heat the body ; but all the other garments
must be of the lightest texture. In good
weather, field people wear as little clothing as
possible ; the men working often in trowsers
without a shirt, and the women frequently
throwing their arms out of the sleeves of their
upper garment. In cold weather, they put on
an abundance of clothes ; for although they
never complain of heat, they are very sensible
to cold, and dislike it exceedingly. They are
most active in dry hot weather ; but in the
cold damp season, the energy of both body and

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151

mind is impaired. When I first arrived at St.
Vincent, my servants used to clean their knives
and boots and shoes, in the sun : I thought
this must be very disagreeable to them, and
had a shade put up for them, but after it was
finished, not one of them would go there to
work, — and when asked the reason, they said,
i( Sun good for nigger,” All negroes wear their
hats at work, and the women a handkerchief
underneath. Some estates give Kilmarnock
bonnets, besides hats, which the people like.

There are, however, many field people, both
male and female, who although not superior in
rank in the estate, yet are in themselves superior
people, and never appear in the unceremonious
dress already described. It is nothing un-
common for negro men at work alone, when a
sudden heavy shower is about to fall, to pull
off their shirt, and hide it under a bush.
The rain quickly runs off their skins, which
are oily ; and as soon as it is fair, they are dry
again, and then the shirt is put on dry and
comfortable. The little negro children seem

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WEST INDIES.

to understand this from instinct, and never
run out, during rain, without taking the pre-
caution of leaving* their clothes behind them.
Negroes are extremely fond of bathing ; and
little infants, of not a year old, will sit for
hours together in the shallow bed of a river.
This braces and strengthens them ; and it is
found that a very free use of the cold bath
contributes much to the health of the white
population also. Should a negro get very wet,
and remain with damp clothes on, he is almost
sure to suffer severely : pleurisy is often the
consequence, and the disease proceeds with
such rapidity, that a very few hours terminate
it one way or another. The planters, however,
are all half physicians ; that is, they know the
indications of approaching disease ; and upon
the slightest appearance of pleurisy, they admi-
nister calomel and jalap, and the estate’s
medical attendant is instantly sent for to bleed
the patient. It is astonishing how few deaths
occur from this disease, in consequence of the
prompt assistance which is uniformly given.

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153

There is no trifling -the most violent remedies
are applied without delay, and the best effects
generally follow.

It is nearly impossible to get children regu-
larly to wear clothes under six years of age. I
have myself tried every method I could think of
with the little girl of one of my servants, but in
vain ; the child used to tug at her frock, which
was all I asked her to wear, and when by no
strength she could undo it, she would go to
the boys’ pantry, and taking a knife, cut it off,
making her appearance at the door of my room,
laughing with delight at her adroitness in get-
ting rid of such an annoyance, and throwing
the frock in at the door. Yet in the cold
season this child, like all others, wore her
clothing, and used to cry at times from the
severity of the cold.

All head people upon estates are uniformly
well dressed, neat, and clean ; and though it is
in their own fashion, they look nicer and much
cleaner than English country people. Their
clothes are seldom much mended, and they

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make a point indeed of appearing like what the
other negroes call them,— Mr. so and so. In
short, they are negro gentlemen in their con-
duct, dress, and manner. Their wives and
daughters do not every day dress in so superior
a style, but still they dress considerably better
than common field people, and never dispense
with their upper garment. The majority of
servants, even of the lowest rank, dress better
than common field negroes. Female servants
wear fine light calico printed gowns, or white
muslin, which are alike common ; they make
them low, and generally with short sleeves ;
they sometimes wear a Madras handkerchief
about the neck, but more frequently not.
They have always good necklaces, ear-rings,
gold rings, and a nice handkerchief for a turban.

When I first landed in the West Indies, I
was shocked at the unclothed state in which I
saw many negroes; but a few months’ careful
observation soon shewed me that it was not the
want of clothes, but the dislike to their burden
that occasioned this. As the negro advances

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155

in civilization, this will no longer be the case.
The sense of decency will gain the ascendency,
and predominate, as much as the love of ease
and coolness does at present over every other.
Head negroes on estates generally receive some
present, in the way of clothing, upon the con-
clusion of crop : and should any accident,
arising even from bad conduct, have deprived a
negro during the season of part of his clothing,
it is always supplied again ; for unnecessary as
it seems to be to them in warm weather, they
would die, were they not well clothed in woollen
dresses, in the damp and cold season.

Aged and superannuated negroes have the
same allowance of clothing at Christmas as the
others, and should they be unable to make it
up for themselves, some of the other people are
employed to do this for them. The estates in
some colonies give out the clothing ready made
to put on ; but in others, the more common
plan is to distribute the cloth, with needles,
thread, tapes, &c. Good negroes are careful of
their clothing, and instead of wearing it at the

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season when they receive it, they prudently lay
it up until the rainy, damp season arrives.
But upon every estate, especially those nearest
town, there is a lessor greater proportion of im-
provident, careless, and even desperate cha-
racters ; such are uniformly indolent, equally
for themselves as for their masters, and are
often incorrigible runaways. Negroes of this
description either take no care of their clothing,
or they sell it to hucksters, who give them fine
showy clothes instead, not at all suitable for a
working dress. Such people are often impro-
vident enough to exchange all their blue Pennis-
towns for some article of jewellery; and others,
who are so irregular and lazy as not to cultivate
their grounds — sell their clothing for plantains,
or whatever else they want at the moment : they
are, in short, savages, and never look forward
beyond the present day. Want of clothing is
to them no punishment ; but when the bad
weather arrives, they are sure enough to come
shivering to the master or the attorney, and
clothing must again be given to them. It is

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157

astonishing hew much the expense of clothing
is increased by the misconduct of runaway and
bad negroes, who nevertheless always turn to
their masters when they are assailed by want
or distress; for the masters, independent of
common humanity, are bound by law to clothe
and feed them, without any reference to their
deserts. There are some negroes of good cha-
racter, who are fond of a change of clothing,
and a half-worn soldier’s suit has great attrac-
tions for them : such people often sell the
estate’s clothing, and purchase a red coat from
the garrison, after it has become too shabby for
the soldier. This is a very comfortable dress
for them ; and I have often seen eight or ten
negroes hoeing the field in the worn-out jackets
used in one of his Majesty’s regiments. So
fond are negroes generally of bartering their
clothing, that I have seen jackets belonging to
a St. Vincent estate, with the stamp of the
property upon them, worn in Trinidad by
Trinidad negroes.

It is obvious that any regular allowance of

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WEST INDIES,

clothing to domestics cannot be adhered to. A
head man servant requires about eight or nine
good linen shirts, and probably the dozen is
completed by blue and-white check ones. His
trowsers are of linen, coloured striped jean, and
nankeen ; and about eighteen pairs will be
requisite every year. This personage wears
shoes — a very expensive article in the West
indies — for a head servant is too much of a
gentleman to wear thick or strong shoes. I
recollect B— - — , a head servant of ours, who
was sent to a store in quest of shoes for himself,
and brought home a pair which cost 145. 4 d.
sterling. I ventured to tell him that i disap-
proved of his choice, as they were light thin
dress shoes, which would not serve him manv
weeks;-— but his answer was given with great
nonchalance in these words Misses, me
could not dance in tick shoes ; they too heavy
and hot.” In fact, this man would not have
deigned to wear such shoes as I wore every day
in walking out. This class of negro domestics
are extravagant beyond bounds, and care not
how many clothes they destroy.

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159

The habits of female servants in the same
rank are no less expensive, and their clothing
costs a great sum annually. Domestics of an
inferior class are clothed not quite so well? but
still they scorn to accept of those dark cotton
calicoes and ginghams for gowns, such as ser-
vants at home do not despise for common
working dresses. There is no getting them to
mend or patch their clothes, and when tom,
they consider them fit only to be thrown away.
Yet these same people in hot weather, although
possessing plenty of clothes, will persist in
going about in such a state as makes a new
comer suppose them to be the most wretched
of human beings, while at the same time they
have boxes full of clothes, which they will not
use.

The want of investigating such subjects has
been the cause of much misrepresentation 0
People go out to the West Indies, and see both
in the field and in the house, negroes in the
state I have described them to be. No sooner
do they behold such spectacles, than they at

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WEST INDIES.

once ignorantly exclaim, ,c Here are negro slaves
who ought to be clothed ! — look at them — is it
not dreadful that civilized Europeans and their
descendants ever forget what every man owes
to his neighbour,— compelling slaves to work
the soil, and labour for their advantage, while
they have hardly rags to cover them ! ” But
the proprietors of negroes are free from all
blame ; for it is their own personal interest that
their slave should be clothed, in as much as it
proves his advance in civilization, which renders
him always a better servant, and more reason-
able ; and contributes greatly to his general
health. I shall add no more upon the subject
of clothing, but proceed to that of food.

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161

CHAPTER VI!,

TEE NEGRO POPULATION,

Negro food — Provision-grounds — West India fruits
and vegetables , and manner of cooking them —
Prices of the produce of provision- grounds—
Stock rearing— General returns of provision-
grounds— Manner of life of the negro — Negro
cookery — Negro children — Singular custom—
Succession to property — • Love of barter .

Every field negro has two pounds of excellent
salt fish served out weekly, and head people
have four pounds. A pound and a half is
allowed for every child, from the day of its
birth until twelve years of age, when full allow-
ance is given. This is the most favourite food
of the negro, and they prefer it to salt beef or
pork, a small piece of which they relish occa-

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WEST INDIES.

sionally. They have (besides the garden which
I have already described as being attached to
their house) a portion of ground at a short
distance from the negro houses. In this ground
they plant provisions ; chiefly plantain and
Banana trees. Two full grown bunches of plan-
tains are worth from 4s. to 4s. 6d. sterling, if
bought wholesale, but by retail they are exactly
double the price. A bunch contains no cer-
tain number of plantains, but a good full bunch
will seldom exceed thirty or forty plantains,
and seldom fall short of twenty. One hundred
plantains is considered by a negro, along with
salt fish, as much as he can consume in a week.
The plantain and yam are to the negro, what
the potatoe is to the lower classes in Britain.
Every good plantain tree yields one perfect
bunch annually ; when this is taken off, the
tree must be cut down to the ground, and
in the following year, two or three other trees
sprout from the old stock, and they each yield
their bunch. Thus every successive year the
crop is increased with great rapidity.

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163

The Banana is cultivated precisely in the
same way, and yields the same increase ; its
value also being nearly the same as the plan-
tain. Negroes have the bread-fruit-tree in
their grounds, one good tree of which will bear
more than a hundred heads annually, — each
head being worth from 3 d, to 8 d. according
to its size. Yams are planted by cuttings, in
the same way as the English potatoe. They
are of the clematis tribe ; strong stakes are
driven in to support them, although some ne-
groes allow them to creep upon the ground like
strawberry plants. The root of the yam is
often larger than a white-globe turnip, but
generally of an elongated irregular shape.

There are great varieties of yams — Portu-
guese, Guinea, water, white, and the cush-cush
yam. Some few when boiled are of a deep
purple, but a colour resembling a dry English
potatoe is the most common. The cush-cush
yam is the smallest and most delicate. They
are a very farinaceous vegetable. The tania is
a root something of the size of a potatoe, — -

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WEST INDIES.

resembling it also in colour ; it is farinaceous*
though not so much so as the yam.

The eddoe root is at times cultivated, but it
also grows wild : it nearly resembles the tania ;
is doubly useful, as its leaves make an excel”
lent substitute for spinage ; in fact it is a more
delicate vegetable than English spinage. The
sweet- cassada is a farinaceous root resembling
the carrot only in shape, for in colour and taste
it is more like the yam, it is of very quick
growth, and gives immense returns. These are
the principal roots cultivated in the negro pro-
vision-grounds : their value is all nearly alike,
and one dollars worth of any of the above roots
is in point of sustenance equal to one dollar’s
worth of plantains. These fruits and roots
come into use at different seasons ; but I take
their value from the time of the year when they
are abundant, for at the season when they are
rare, they are sold at a considerable advance in
price. The cassada, or cassavi, is a root of
great value. When unprepared, or even when
the juice is extracted from this root, it is deadly

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165

poison both to man and to the brute creation.
After being drawn out of the ground, it is
scraped clean and washed, then grated ; for
which process the negroes have graters of a
large size. The juice is afterwards expressed,
by means of pressing the grated cassada in a
bag or strainer, made for the purpose. After
being dried in the sun, it is put into a large
pan (which is a fixture, in general supplied by
every estate for the use of the negroes), and a
fire is made underneath this pan ; then putting
in the grated cassada, they turn it frequently
for some time, until it becomes as dry as kiln-
dried oatmeal, and it is then a very wholesome
article of food, and is known by the name of
farine. The juice expressed from the grated
cassada is saved ; and being allowed to settle,
it precipitates to the bottom a very white paste-
like substance. The water is then poured off,
and this substance is put out upon plates or
large plantain leaves in the sun, when it dries,
becomes hard, and forms excellent starch,
which sells for about 8 d. the quart bottle.

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WEST INDIES.

Farine sells from 4s. to 8s. per bushel, accord-
ing to the season.

Negroes cultivate a variety of the pulse tribe
in their grounds— Lima beans, which sell at
about 6d. per dish the common kidney, or
French bean, as known in England, is used
both in the pod and in the bean. The gub-a-
gub, or black-eyed pea, is also excellent ; and
the value of all these is the same as the Lima
bean. English peas they do not like ; but
many cultivate them for the market ; — they are
wort 2s. a dish. They come into season in the
end of December, and are quite out by the end
of June. English cabbage also is cultivated
merely for sale ; it is worth from 4 d. to even 8 d.
per head. Turnips and carrots are never used
by negroes ; but many raise them also for the
market. Three, or at most four turnips or car-
rots, fetch 6d. sterling. Onions will not grow
in St. Vincent, nor in several other colonies ;
but shalots thrive well, and they make a good
substitute: they are sold at about a 1 d. for a
small bunch. The tomata comes to great per-

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167

fection, and the negroes use a great deal of it
in soup — they are worth about 2 d. sterling per
dozen. Pumpkins grow luxuriantly: of these
the negro is fond, but he raises them also for
sale: they are worth from 2 d. to 4 d. The
pigeon pea is an uncommonly nice vegetable :
its cultivation is easy, and every estate is full of
pigeon-pea bushes. The plant is not unlike our
laburnum, and the pods and peas are of that
size. They bear so richly that a negroe can
pick in ten minutes, as many peas as would
serve for soup for dinner to four or five grown
persons : and if he choose to sell them, he would
get from 4 d. to 6d. according to the season.
Calialou may be called the spinage of the
West Indies ; and is a favourite vegetable with
white, coloured, and black. From a Id. to 2d.

\

will buy as much of it as is necessary for soup
for four or five persons. Christophine is more
properly a fruit, as it grows upon a vine ; it is
planted about November, by means of burying
the bean, which is found inside the fruit. The
bean is put at the root of a high tree — in a few

168

WEST INDIES.

months it climbs to the top, and in six months
is covered with a constant succession of fruit,
known by the name of Christophine in general,
though the same varies in different colonies.
The fruit is somewhat like a pear— is shaped
irregularly, ribbed, and of a light pea green ;
and sometimes, mashed like turnips, it is simply
boiled; sometimes it is made into good soap,
and is worth 2 d. per dish. In taste it resem-
bles sea-kale. The fruit of the papaw tree,
when unripe, is good either boiled or mashed as
turnips : it grows in such great abundance that
it will fetch no price. When ripe, the papaw
is sometimes sold— two large ones for a penny :
in size it is equal to an English melon. Cu-
cumbers grow abundantly, and are peculiarly
excellent in the West Indies; they are so
plentiful that they will not sell in season, but
out of season they will fetch a penny each.
Negroes are fond of them, and taking the skin
off, they eat them as we would an apple ; nor
are they ever found to disagree with them.

Sweet pot herbs are at all times to be found

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169

in the negro's ground : sweet marjoram grows
luxuriantly ; thyme is more difficult to rear,
but mint, sage, and marjoram grow readily, by
merely sticking a sprig in the ground. They
sell a good bunch of pot herbs for eight-pence
sterling. Every variety of capsicum is to be
found upon a West Indian estate ; indeed, they
are almost a weed; but peppers nevertheless
are purchased in town with avidity, and I have
paid two-pence for a dozen of moderate sized
country peppers; at the height of the season,
you can get three or four dozen for two-pence.

The fruit trees upon an estate are, by common
consent, the perquisite of the negroes belonging
to it. The West Indian islands differ as to
their productiveness in fruit, but generally
speaking, there is a great variety of fruits,
according to their season; and upon every
property the negroes make a considerable sum
by the sale of the fruit. The mango is cer-
tainly the most abundant. This fruit hangs in
such thick clusters, that the produce of one
tree is immense. Of the mango there are many

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varieties, but the small ones are the best. Some
very small delicate kinds, of a yellow colour,
are to be found in the botanic garden at St.
Vincent: these are most delicious, though their
turpentine flavour is disagreeable to those
unused to it. The large kidney-shaped green
mango is coarse and full of threads; and I
know nothing so perfectly resembling it in
taste, as a coarse field carrot, with the addition
of a small portion of turpentine and sugar.
Mangoes are said to produce leprosy ; and I
have observed that negroes who eat many of
them, are very liable to cutaneous diseases.
The alligator pear is a pleasant wholesome fruit,
larger than our largest English pears, with two
seeds inside : when ripe it is soft and mellow,
and the inside exactly resembles fine yellow
butter. It is from this that it is often called
subaltern’s butter. It is generally eaten for
breakfast, either with sugar and lime juice, or
with salt and pepper. The negroes are very
fond of the alligator pear, and generally call it
the zabaca pear. They sell three large ones,

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171

when in season, for a penny. The sappadillo
tree produces a fruit rather large, but in colour
and flavour very like the English medlar. This
fruit is not so abundant, and sells for ten-pence
per dozen, or thereabouts. There are several
sorts of plum trees — the Jamaica, the hog plum,
and varieties of the Java plum. These fruits
are highly astringent; and eaten freely, must
be dangerous. During the season they are
to be had in abundance, for a mere trifle. The
mountain-pear is one of the best, if not the very
best fruit of the West Indies. The plant is a
cactus, and the negroes have it in their grounds,
and sell it often for a penny each. It is in size
something similar to a ripe fig; of an olive
green and red colour outside, and its inside
resembles a mixture of salt and ground pepper,
from its numerous small black seeds. It is
always cool, and may be eaten in almost any
quantity, without danger. Melons are often
raised in negro grounds : they grow without
any attention, further than putting the seed

VOL. i.

i

172

WEST INDIES.

in the ground. They are worth from four-pence
to eight-pence each, according to their size,
which is often immense. Pines are everywhere
found on the provision-grounds : they grow'
like a weed, and the poorer the soil, the better
is the pine. I have bought them for a penny,
and have also paid for a very large one, out of
season, as much as a shilling sterling. Grapes
are also found ; but they are generally cultivated
by the coloured or free negro population. They
resemble the large Portugal grape as imported
here from Portugal and Spain. They would be
of the best quality, were they suffered to remain
long enough upon the vine; but the depredation
among them, and the injury they sustain from
insects, are so great, that they cut the fruit
prematurely, and the grapes consequently are
seldom to be had so good as we find them
raised in a hot-house at home. In point of
beauty, however, there is no comparison ; for
the bunches are exceedingly fine, and the grapes
of a very large size. About two shillings per
lb. is the common price. The white muscat of

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173

Alexandria, is the common grape : purple ones
are very rare indeed.

Maize, known in England by the name of
Indian corn, is a great source of wealth among
the slaves, and also of personal comfort. With
maize he feeds his poultry, and occasionally
his hogs before he kills them. When green he
roasts it, and in this state it is excellent ; when
ripe and dried in the sun, he grinds it (and there
is always a mill on every estate), and uses it
either as meal to bake for cakes, or he boils
it into a sort of pottage. There is not one slave
upon an estate who cannot raise an abundance
of these fruits, roots, and vegetables — far more
than he can use for his own consumption. The
great majority of negroes have their grounds
fully stocked ; some, however, are lazy and
will not work their grounds to the extent that
they might do ; while run-a-ways do no work
at all, either for their masters or themselves,
and live by plundering the provision-grounds
of industrious negroes. There is not an in-
stance of a negro who works well for his

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1 74

WEST INDIES.

owner, who has not his provision-grounds in
the greatest order, and full of all sorts of sup-
plies, both for himself and the market. Every
individual has his own ground, and every
mother has a fixed portion more for each child.
In St. Vincent, Saturday from twrelve at noon
is allowed them to work their grounds, or else
the whole day once every fortnight. Sunday
is their own the whole year round. The half
Saturday every week, or the whole fortnightly,
is not given during crop time ; otherwise no
sugar could be made on Friday, Saturday, or
Monday. For the sugar made on Friday must be
potted on the following morning, and canes cut
on Friday would be sour by Monday morning ;
the canes must be cut either the preceding
night, or at most not more than twenty-four
hours before they are ground in the mill. This,
however, is no real loss to the negro ; for after
January, the principal season for preparing the
ground for the reception of plants and roots is
over, until the end of June, when the showers
become frequent. During the dry months

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175

little or nothing can be done; and what is
planted, seldom or ever lives. If it does sur-
vive, it does not come to such maturity as to
be of good quality ; but in general the soil is
so dry that the root or seed dies in the ground.
This I know from my own experience and
the negroes’ information, upon this subject;
and I feel certain that were Saturday given to
them once a fortnight during the hot season,
it would be put to very bad use.

Besides, if the crop time brings some little
increase of work, it brings also its privileges
and pleasures, and like harvest in Scotland,
it is a very merry season. There is a regular
contention who is to cut the last cane, and
when this is done the rest of the day is spent in
mirth and jollity. The male boys dress them-
selves in ribbons, and as there is generally a
fiddler upon the estate, he leads the procession
up to the proprietor’s, or if absent, the mana-
ger’s, who provides wherewithal to make them
merry. The women, who are well dressed,
dance before the door, singing their wild

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WEST INDIES.

choruses of joy at the last cane being cut. The
evening is ended by a general dance ; and to
the credit of the slaves, intoxication rarely
appears among them.

During crop time, every slave may have as
much hot and cold liquor as he chooses, and
they have only to ask for a calibash full of rich

i

syrup or some sugar, and they receive it.
Those who are not inclined to intoxication,
are never refused a little rum. when they wish
for it. There cannot be a more mistaken notion
than that negroes generally dislike crop time ;
every good negro enjoys it; and as for lazy
bad characters, they dislike working, whether
for their master or themselves, and their only
pleasure is sleeping away life. There is not a
negro who cannot easily accumulate his 30/.
sterling every year, and very many save much
more. Besides, they procure bread, salt pork,
salt beef, mackerel, corned fish, cakes or other
nice things. For these they do not pay the
value in money, but they barter their provisions.

Another source of the gains of the slave popula-

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177

lion is their stock. They rear great quantities of
fowls, and many rear ducks ; guinea birds
too, are generally raised by both the coloured
and free negro population. They fatten a
great number of pigs, and full grown hogs ;
indeed, many colonial markets are almost
wholly supplied by the slaves. Pork of a most
superior quality may be had two or three times
a week, and always of a Sunday. Negroes
also rear goats and kids for sale in abundance.
When they kill a hog, they are very loathe to
sell the head and feet ; and if you wish for
these, you must coax them as for a favour.
These parts they keep for a treat to themselves.
When I lived in St. Vincent, pork sold at
eightpence sterling per. lb. A pig fit for roast-
ing, fourteen shillings sterling. A chicken,
two shillings. A full grown fowl, from three
and sixpence to four and sixpence. A pair of
ducks, twelve and sixpence. Arrow root,
which I had almost forgotten to mention, is
made in abundance by the negroes, and is
prepared, nearly in the same way as the starch,

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WEST INDIES.

from the root of the manioe, It sells at two
shillings, or thereabouts, the quart bottle, and
can always be had in the coloured hucksters
shops.

The guava bush is indigenous to most of the
islands of the West Indies, and every estate is
more or less over-run with guavas. The St.
Vincent guavas are considered of a very fine
quality, and when stewed with sugar, are not
unlike the flavour of a strawberry ; at least,
those who sigh for home, try to fancy this.
Negroes pick them and sell them cheap enough
when in season, which is from May to Septem-
ber. A great quantity of this fruit is made
into jelly by coloured free women. The negro
children hurt themselves much by eating too
freely of the raw guava, which is a very tempt- '
ing fruit for them, but particularly injurious.
When I say that any industrious negro may
save 30/. sterling yearly with ease, I really
mean save ; for besides this, he will purchase
all those little articles he requires,— candles,
soap, now and then salt pork and beef, &c.

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179

besides plenty of fine dresses for himself, his
wife or wives, and children ; for good negroes
have no small pride in dressing their family,
as they call it, u handsome,”

There are few estates which are not situate in
the vicinity of some river. These streams
abound in mullet, Cray fish— resembling a small
lobster, eels and mud fish. The negroes are
not prevented from having the full benefit of
fishing ; and I have many a time paid a slave
eighteen pence for fresh water fish, which he
had caught and brought to town during the
two hours allotted for his dinner. I once asked
a negro who brought me some mullet in this
way, how he managed to have anything to eat
and catch fish also? He immediately informed
' me, “ he wife cook a victual, no him at the
same time apparently astonished at my suppos-
ing that he could be so silly as not to have a
wife to cook for him.

I have now enumerated many of the different
methods by which slaves not only live well,
and purchase fine clothing ; but some a great

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180

WEST INDIES.

deal of it. I am the better able to do this from
having lived in town, where 1 was regularly-
supplied with all the fruits, roots, vegetables,
poultry, eggs, pork, and also goat and kid, by
the negro slaves, and from having walked
again and again over the provision-grounds of
estates. By these means I saw the whole
system fully and experimentally developed.
The slave may be perfectly idle, and yet he is
supported. The British labourer strains every
nerve to live. The slave is provided for with-
out anxiety on his part ; the object he has in
view is not to live, but to save, and get rich.
A wife and family are often a serious burden to
the British labourer, and in order to support
them he is frequently obliged to seek pecuniary
aid from the parish. A wife and family have
been the greatest possible advantage to a slave,
for his master supplied them with every thing :
his wife washes and cooks, the children soon
begin to assist the mother, and they all work
in their garden and grounds, and reap a great
annual crop of different kinds.

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181

I shall now go on to describe the daily fare
of the estates’ negroes, beginning with the head
people — that is, drivers, boiler-men, coopers,
carpenters, masons, &c. These have their
breakfast boiled generally the preceding even-
ing. The mess consists of green plantains,
eddoes or yam, made into soup, with an abund-
ance of creole peas or beans, or the eddoe leaf,
the calialou, or perhaps a plant which grows
indigenous, and particularly among the canes ;
it is known by the name of weedy-weedy ; I
never could learn that there was any other ap-
pellation for it : it also nearly resembles spinach,
This soup is seasoned with salt fish, and occa-
sionally, as a change, with a bit of salt pork.
The soup is boiled very thoroughly, and forms
a substantial mess, being of the consistency of
thick potatoe soup. It is well spiced with
country peppers, and cooked as they cook it, is
a most excellent dish indeed. All the various
soups, whether tanias, calialou, pigeon pea, or
pumpkin, are to be found almost daily at the
tables of the white population, whose children

182

WEST INDIES.

are almost fed upon those messes. I never met
with an European who did not relish all the
different creole soups, or, as they are often
called, “ negro pot.,?

Dinner is not a regular meal with them : a
roasted yam, or plantain, and a bit of salt fish
roasted on the coals with it, is their repast be-
tween twelve and two, which are their dinner
hours.

The wives of the head people eat the same
breakfast, &c. with the husband ; for although
he may have many wives, yet there is only one
who regularly lives with him, and manages the
household. The children, if in the young gang,
breakfast with the parents ; and the children of
such people get soup, along with roasted yam, a
plantain, or sweet cassada. At noon-time they
get farine, cassada, plantain cake, or roasted
corn, &c. The drink of all such families of a
morning is either molasses, syrup, or sugar and
water ; and during crop-time they often take,
and may always have, hot liquor, which is the
hot cane juice, before it begins to thicken and

WEST INDIES.

183

attain the consistency of syrup. When head
people conduct themselves properly, they have
an allowance of rum given them, sufficient to
mix them a glass or two of weak grog daily.

Supper is their chief meal, and their soup,
although the principal dish, is not the only
one : they often have tum-tum — made of plan-
tains boiled quite soft, and beat in a wooden
mortar, — it is eaten like a potatoe pudding;
at other times the plantain, after being beaten
soft, is made up into round cakes, and fried,.
Ripe plantains roasted is another dish, but they
are best sliced and fried, and indeed are supe-
rior to apple fritters. Pigeon peas, stewed
with a little bit of salt fish or salt pork, with
the addition of country peppers and sweet
herbs, is another supper dish. In fact it would
require almost a volume to enumerate all their
different modes of dressing their provisions.
Sweet cassada roasted is excellent; and when
they kill a hog, which they all do three or four
times a year, besides the pigs which they sell,
they keep the head of the hog, and dress it in

184

WEST INDIES.

the following manner : — The head and feet
being cleaned, and made quite white, they are
boiled until soft in strong salt and water, or if
near the sea, in sea water. The meat is then
picked off the head, and, being cut up in small
pieces, it is placed, along with the feet, in a
deep vessel ; and when cold, immersed in water
well salted, lime juice sufficient to acidulate it,
and plenty of country peppers. It will keep
good for a week at least, which renders it a
very convenient dish. It is eaten cold ; and the
sauce, with a bit of cassada cake or farine
soaked in it, is liked by every one. The dish
is well known in the West Indies by the name
of souse, and is a favourite with all.

Negroes are fond of turtle : it is the cheapest
meat in the market, and they occasionally buy
it ; but it is by no means a favourite dish with
the majority of the white population, and many
will not eat it. Excepting in November, De-
cember, and January, negroes have plenty of
eggs : they rarely or ever eat them, but sell
them at three and four for fourpence sterling :

WEST INDIES.

185

in the scarce season they are sometimes as dear
as twopence a-piece. These they often barter
for food, such as fresh or corned fish. Jack-
fish they are very fond of.

All negroes understand well the composition
of sausages ; and although they most commonly
dispose of them, I have often had sausages
made a present of to me by different slaves.
Their poultry is so abundant, that they do not
grudge, upon any little merry-making, to kill a
few fowls and roast them ; and they occasionally
make fowl soup, with a bit of salt pork added.
Fresh meat, without something salt to eat along
with it, has no charms for a negro.

The common field negro has not soup so
often for breakfast as the head people. A roasted
yam or plantain, or farine with lime juice, salt,
and pepper, satisfies him; followed by some
sweet, and generally hot beverage, as drink.
Generally speaking, his dinner and supper will
be found little, if at all inferior to the head
people’s; but he has not grog so often as they
have, whose work, particularly that of the

186

WEST INDIES.

boiler-men, is more severe. Few negroes think
of cleaning and washing the pans they cook
in, or the dishes or calibashes they eat out of.
These are almost always left uncleaned until
required again. The same practice obtains in
a gentleman’s kitchen; and it is in vain to
expect to find any utensil clean, when required.
Negroes have always plenty of fuel; when they
go to their grounds they bring down a load,
twice generally, each day they are there. Occa-
sionally during the week they are permitted to
go up and bring down wood, and see that all is
right in their provision grounds.

Children who are too young to be employed,
are all brought up by women, whose sole office
is to take care of them. The elder children
look after those who are younger; while the
nurse, at other times, makes them pick a little
wood to boil their victuals with. They return
to their parents at night, but not until then.
Their food is given by the manager to the
nurse, and consists of a good breakfast of
either well boiled soup, or at times rice, boiled

WEST INDIES.

with a little sprig of salt fish, or else boiled
down to a thick gruel with sugar. Sucking
infants have either arrow root or flour pap, and
at times bread boiled to pap, and sweetened.
Many estates get out oatmeal for the use of
the youngest children : the sick negroes also
are very fond of gruel sweetened with sugar.
Oatmeal forms also excellent food for the chil-
dren who are too young to eat the creole soups.
There is always a plantain walk, with plantains,
yams, and other provisions, for the use of the
children, in the nursery, and for the sick or
aged. Such children have creole soup well
boiled, generally with fish; but for a change
occasionally, with Irish mess, beef or pork,
which is in store upon every estate for the
purpose. They have soup again at dinner,
and generally roast plantains, yams, sweet
cassada, See. At different times of the day,
when they deserve it, they have sugar or
molasses and water for drink. The woman
who has the care of them, keeps them together
all day in a building, appropriated for them,

188

WEST INDIES.

out of the sun. It is her business to keep
them clean, and to see that no chigres are
permitted to remain on their feet, so as to
produce sores.* These women are far kinder
to the children than I ever knew any of the
negro mothers to be, and the infant unvariably
shews more affection for the nurse than for its
parent. I have seen a negro nurse quite proud
of her little charges, — teaching them to make a
curtsy, and answer politely ; and she always
keeps them good humoured, by dancing and
singing to them. The arrangement of the
children upon a West Indian estate is most
gratifying, for every want and comfort is mi-
nutely attended to ; in case of sickness, they
are handed over to the nurse or nurses in the
hospital.

Negro children are brought up altogether

* Chigres are a sand flea, which penetrate under the skin of
the feet, but particularly the toes. As soon as they accomplish
this, an itching sensation is felt, when the chigre ought to be
removed by means of a needle breaking the skin. No uneasiness
follows ; but should this precaution be neglected, the insect breeds
in the toe, and produces sometimes dreadful sores.

WEST INDIES. 189

differently from European infants ; and however
strange the mode may appear, I have seen such
fine healthy robust infants treated in the way I
am about to describe, that I feel no hesitation
in believing it to be perfectly adapted to the
climate. The mother, unless in cases where
sickness prevents, always suckles her own
child. For the first fortnight the nurse gives
it no spoon food,— -but from that time it gets
two meals a day, of arrow root, or pap of some
kind or other. Every third or fourth day she
gives it a tea-spoonful of castor oil, and bathes
it morning and evening in cold water. After
completely immersing it two or three times in
the water, the nurse takes the baby, and holding
it by the right leg only, she suspends it thus for
about a second ; she then suspends it by the
left leg, next by the right arm, then by the
left one, shaking each joint apparently very
roughly ; and last of all taking the infant, she
throws it up into the air, catching it very
adroitly. They consider this the best and only
method of making the baby’s joints firm and

190

WEST INDIES.

supple. At first the child cries when this
operation is performed, but it soon becomes
used to it, laughs and enjoys it amazingly.
If an infant cry after it has been for some time
washed in this way, they say, ‘‘he good for
noting at all, he coward too much.” Every
mother has time allowed her in the morning
to wash, dress, and suckle her infant — that is
when she again returns from her confinement
to work. The nurse keeps the baby, and
attends upon the mother from three to four
weeks, as may be requisite. One or more
nurses are required for the estate, according to
the number and ages of those in the nursery.

At five or six months’ old these children all
eat the creole soup, even pretty well seasoned
with country peppers. A negro mother would
think it downright starvation if you were to
deny her child salt fish ; and it is quite common
to see a little child of a few months old, suck-
ing a great piece of fish or salt pork. I have
often tried negro children with fowl soup, but I
never found that they could be persuaded to

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191

eat it. Infants are never weaned before they
are fifteen or sixteen months, and rarely so
early: they are often great robust children,
following their mother all over the estate before
they are weaned.

Old negroes rarely or ever live alone, and are
never at a loss for some one to cook for them
If they have a god-child resident upon the
estate, they always perform this duty : their
allowances of food are the same as the working
people. Should they be so infirm as no longer
to be able to cultivate their provision-grounds,
they get some of the young people to do this;
whom they pay for their trouble, not in money;
but in a given portion of the produce of their
grounds. These old people are always fond of
rearing poultry; and I have known many who
were so bent down with old age as never to
stir fifty yards from the door of their dwelling,
raise great numbers of fowls of all kinds.

Such people are always treated with much
kindness, and they are often employed in getting
rice, oatmeal, and plantain from the plantain

192

WEST INDIES.

walk ; or something to make them comfortable
in their old age. I have frequently visited
invalids* and aged slaves ; and I never found
one who was not comfortably housed* clothed*
and well provided with food ; neither can I
recollect, with the exception of one* any instance
where they did not manage in some way or
other, to make a little money, and this one had
made money when young. At Christmas*
Irish mess, beef, flour* or rice, sugar and rum
are served out. At this season, all head people
receive, 31bs. of pork, 81bs. of flour or rice,
two quarts of sugar, and a bottle of rum. Head
domestics receive the same ; and although it is
optional, yet there are few, if any of these people
who do not also get some Madeira and porter
to add to their good cheer. It is very common
also at Christmas to kill an ox, when a portion
of fresh animal food is distributed. Field
people have 41bs. of pork, 41bs. of flour, two
quarts of sugar, and a bottle of rum. Children
under twelve years of age have half allowance ;
above that age, they have the same as the full

WEST INDIES.

193

grown people. The women and children prefer
receiving sugar instead of rum. Serving out
the Christmas provisions is a time of great
merriment ; the negroes powder each other over
with flour, and there is a complete scene of
romping among the young people.

It is not easy to give a description of the
food provided for the sick, for their diet must
depend upon the nature of the disease; but
neither trouble nor expense is spared to procure
the very best for them, and the quantity of
fowls and chickens purchased for the sick is
enormous. There is often a great deal of wine
used, besides porter. Rice, arrow root, sago,
and bread, are all articles commonly used in
the hospital ; but should the proprietor be
resident, the invalids are very often fed from
his table, and their victuals at all events cooked
in the master’s kitchen.

There was nothing surprised me more than
the liberality with which the convalescent slaves
are treated ; and any comparison between their
comforts, and the comforts of the labouring

194

WEST INDIES.

classes in Britain, mutually circumstanced,
would be absurd. Before going abroad, I had
lived a good deal in the country, and was pretty
accurately acquainted with the comforts en-
joyed by ploughmen and their families, in
counties nearly adjoining to Edinburgh, and
also by the lower classes in that city. Since
I returned to England, I have made many
inquiries upon this subject, and the result of
the investigation has left no doubt in my mind
of the superior comforts hitherto enjoyed by
slaves, most particularly during sickness and
convalescence. Should a slave be unable, from
bad health, or any other cause, to work his pro-
vision-grounds, another negro is always ap-
pointed by his master to cultivate them for him ;
so that the slave is never permitted to be a
sufferer, should he be laid aside by indisposition.

In St. Vincent, provision grounds near town
are not so productive in proportion as those
farther from Kingstown, where the estates have
not been so long under cultivation. The soil of
the latter is very fertile, — producing amazing

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195

crops, with hardly any labour, particularly
those in the Charaib country. The negroes on
those estates have occasionally the use of their
proprietors'’ drogher (a small vessel for con-
veying sugars to Kingstown to be shipped for
England), to carry their plantains to town for
sale ; and also the carts to bring them from the
grounds to the beach. This I have heard many
Charaib country negroes describe: their plan-
tains are separately marked by the manager,
who when he is in town receives the payment,
and upon his return gives it to the people. I
have known a manager receive at one time
270/. sterling for the surplus plantain crop of
the slaves, besides what they personally con-
sumed and gave to their hogs. This was an
estate too where there was no resident pro-
prietor; and the manager nevertheless took
quite as great an interest in the well-being of
the negroes, as if they had been his own people.
Such instances as these are continually occur-
ring, and it is right that they should be known
to the world.

VOL. i.

K

196

WEST INDIES.

Slaves upon those estates which are situated
in the neighbourhood of a colonial town, have
many ways of making money which those who
are distant from a town do not possess. English
vegetables, and Guinea grass in particular,
yield great profits. Guinea grass grows very
readily, and a small bundle sells for twopence.
A horse requires six of these bundles in the
twenty-four hours, besides oats three times a
day. All the families resident in Kingstown,
have their horses supplied with Guinea grass,
from the negroes belonging to the estates in
Kingstown valley. Many also of the slaves
cut and sell wood, which is worth thirteen
pence per bundle, while others deal in charcoal.
Their dealing in the latter article is, however,
strictly forbidden by law. Still the negroes
persist in it; and whenever it appears in the
market, it is impossible to tell whether the
charcoal was made from wood, stolen by a
slave, or whether it was made by free negroes,
who lawfully purchased the wood wherewith to
make it.

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197

It is sometimes necessary to remove the pro-
vision grounds upon an estate; but six months'
warning is always given, and the produce of
the new ground is in season before they quit
the old ones. Such removal happens very
rarely — perhaps not once in twenty or thirty
years ; but still when it does occur, it is done
with perfect justice to all parties. There cannot
be a remark more devoid of truth, than that
the property of slaves is not respected, for I
have abundant evidence that the reverse is the
case. In the event of death, they understand
very well who is the legal heir or heirs, failing
all blood relations, when the god-child or god-
children succeed. I have always observed that
there was the greatest accuracy and attention
in regard to those points ; and strange as it
may appear, considering what notorious thieves
negroes are, they are not prone to steal from
the house of the deceased, though it is often
the custom for the proprietor or manager to
lock up the effects of a slave, unless the heir
be upon the spot to receive them. I recollect,

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not very long after I had been in the West
Indies, a young female domestic of ours asked
permission to go to an estate full twenty miles
off ; adding that her god-father was dead, and
they had sent for her to get what he had left,
for he had no other one, as she expressed it,
6i to own it.” I had heard it in England so con-
stantly asserted, that the property of slaves
was not respected, and that the proprietor or
manager, in the event of their death, claimed
all, that when she told me this story, I gave
no credit to it ; but, upon applying to her
master, he informed me it was like most other
home stories— without a shadow of truth. The
servant, therefore, was permitted to go, and
returned the third day with ostensible proofs
of her being indeed the heir; for she led an
immense pig along with her, and had a large
quantity of yams. The other property, being
rather more bulky than she could readily re-
move, she sold upon the estate ; and had, as
she said, got some “leetle ting” (some money)
for it. She had not, however, been proof

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against the charms of a scarlet waistcoat, which
she brought home with her as too pretty an
article of dress to part with. Negro slaves have
no idea that any one would or could doubt their
legal right to their own property ; they often
sell provisions without receiving the payment
until it amounts to a certain sum ; and they
rather prefer taking a few dollars at one time.
Indeed those slaves who sell Guinea grass are
seldom or ever paid oftener than once a week,
and frequently only once a month. Were their
rights as men not respected, they would act
very differently ; but they know by experience
that there is not a white person who does not,
both practically and theoretically, consider a
debt due to a slave as much his bounden duty
to pay, as if it had been contracted to a white
or coloured free person.

I recollect a female domestic who died in our
house. She was a young woman of indifferent
character, and had had several husbands, but
would never settle— always idle, and a great
runaway. She left no children ; and upon her

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death-bed, her elder sister took undisturbed
possession of her wardrobe ; for that was her
all, as she had been so indifferent and indolent
a character. None of her former husbands
claimed her property, and her sister took it.
On all these subjects negro slaves are by no
means ignorant as to how they ought to act:
they are perfectly aware of their rights, and
have undisturbed possession of them.

I trust my readers are convinced that negro
slaves have abundance of food ; and that, al-
though it is different from the usual victuals of
either English, Scotch, or Irish working people,
it is wholesome and nutritious. This I can
assert, that negroes greatly prefer it to the
common food of the working classes of Great
Britain. I have often tried, and never yet
found one negro who liked an English potatoe ;
and I have often seen them put them aside,
when they had been left from their master’s
table, or throw them to the fowls or pigs, ex-
pressing astonishment that any one could eat
them.

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Slaves, who are domestics to families in town,
have money instead of their allowances none
have less than half a dollar, and none more
than a round dollar, weekly. They always
have two meals a day from table, so that the
greater part of this allowance is saved. Ser-
vants also have their clothes washed, or if
females, the materials for washing allowed them.
They have candles also ; and as they cook in
their master’s kitchen, they are at no expense
for fuel. They get a little sugar daily for
beverage, and a head man servant either has
his grog daily, or a bottle of rum weekly. All
negroes prefer having provision-grounds, for by
them they make much more than a dollar
weekly. Town servants very frequently keep
pigs ; and there are none who do not rear
poultry, there being always some court-yard
about the servants’ houses.

Negro servants have all a great turn for
barter, and readily perceive any opportunity of
turning it to advantage. I recollect B— —
(whom I have more than once mentioned) going

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down to Trinidad : when he returned, I hap-
pened to go into his house an hour or two after,
when I saw a cloth full of blue for washing. I
inquired of his wife what she was going to do
with such a quantity of blue; when she informed

me that B had bought it in the market, at

Port an Spainy for two dollars and a half, but
it would sell in Kingstown market for four
dollars : and about a year after, when he made
a second visit to Trinidad, he brought up more
than twice as much of the same article, and
also a quantity of starch, and he gained a very
good profit. But upon an estate, negroes are
so accustomed to receive the necessaries of life,
without even thinking of them, that they feel
more independent in that than in any other
situation ; although pride operates so powerfully
upon some of them, that to be called a head-
servant is a great attraction, as adding to their
consequence.

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CHAPTER VIII.

THE NEGRO POPULATION.

Diseases incident to the negroes , and treatment of

the sick ,

There is upon every estate a hospital for the
reception of the sick, and a sick nurse, or
nurses, as may be requisite. The hospital is a
long building, divided into three parts, with a
gallery in front, raised some feet from the
ground. The centre room is a place of confine-
ment, where the stocks are kept; and the side
rooms are so appropriated, that the males and
females have separate apartments. There is
either a small room also for the medicines, or
the medicines are kept by the manager.

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A medical attendant visits the estate twice
every week ; but in cases of sickness, his attend”
ance is not limited, and if requisite he visits
two or three times a day. Negroes have more
imaginary diseases than any set of people I
ever was amongst : they are fond of quackery,
and often defeat the whole treatment of their
medical attendant by taking nostrums of their
own. A negro must be made to swallow
physic, as you would make an infant swallow
it,— if I except castor oil, which some of them
like so much, that they wiil steal it to fry fish
and plantains with. Monday morning is always
a great day for the sick; all lazy or ill-disposed
negroes come into the hospital at least once a
week, and sometimes oftener.

It is only those who have lived in the West
Indies, who can fully understand the scene
presented by three or four domestic negroes,
coming up of a morning, with their heads tied
up, their eyes half shut, dragging one leg after
the other, and groaning as if they were in
agony ; seeing such a party present itself at

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205

your door, you begin with u Well, what is the
matter with you ?” u Misses, my kin (skin)
da hurt me-— me bad too much — me eye turn
in me head this is followed by another long
and grevious howl. Probably the pulse is good ,
no fever, the tongue clean, skin cool ; upon
such occasions, too, you will find the appetite
excellent. We had one or two servants who
made a regular custom of being indisposed
weekly : medicine they would not take, the
doctor they would not see ; I had tried every
plan I could invent, but they baffled me com-
pletely, until I tried what laughing them out
of it would do. I was perfectly aware that it
was laziness, and I thought ridicule might
succeed : I merely used to say, “Well, tomorrow
of course you will be sick ; one or two days
every week you know you must have to amuse
yourself.” Their fellow servants seconded me
in this new mode of treatment ; and in a very
short time it cured them so completely, that
they never attempted to repeat the trick, for
it was in fact nothing else.

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Negroes who are of good character do not
conduct themselves in this way^ although per-
haps, with hardly an exception, it will be found
that they make more ado about a headache, or
any trivial complaint, than a white person
would do. They are a muscular, robust set of
people ; I never saw any of them injured by
heat, nor did I ever hear them complain of it.
They feel cold indeed, much more even than
the white creole ; and look most miserable
beings on a chilly day, when they cover them-
selves well with their woollen dress, and come
to their masters for a glass of rum, as in their
opinion the best preventive against cold.

Negroes are very erect, and are well formed*
Their bodies are uncontrolled by tight clothes
in infancy and childhood, and probably to this
may be attributed their being so much freer
of deformities than the population of Britain.
After more than five years7 residence in the
West Indies, I cannot recal to my memory an
instance of one deformed child, or indeed of
any grown person whose shape was not free

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207

from glaring defect. I never saw but one
blind negro ; and he, although blind to his
master, and able to do nothing for him, could
build a house for himself, and plant provisions,
I have seen three negroes with only one leg
each, and I remember one who had lost both—
each of these men had lost their limbs by
amputation ; the one who had lost both, had
suffered from his uncleanly habits ; as he
would not allow the requisite care, gangrene
took place, and nothing but amputation saved
his life.

By far the most common diseases of the
negro, are slight disorders of the stomach :
before the canes are ripe, but when they are
old enough to be full of sweet juice and palat-
able enough, the negroes are fond of them:
they have been a considerable time without
the cane, and as soon as they find them in
this state, they relish them as a change ; but
no sooner do they eat them, than they become
affected with disorders in the stomach, more or
less severe according to the quantity eaten.

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An unripe cane is equally pernicious with
unripe fruit ; and produces nearly the same
bad consequences. At that season many negroes
are very seriously indisposed from this cause ;
but there is no preventing them from com-
mitting the indiscretion.

Pleurisy is a disease of frequent occurrence
among negroes; but the prompt treatment
which is always had recourse to, seems very
successful, for a death seldom or ever is heard
of from this malady. Fevers from colds, very
similar to influenza, are common in the rainy
season ; but they are not so long in duration as
they are in a northern climate ; in three or four
days a cold is quite gone. The patient gene-
rally lies in bed, and drinks gruel, tamarind
beverage, or lemonade, and in a week is again
able to work.

It always appeared to me that every one in
the island, but more particularly the negroes,
were liable to boils; probably the appetite for
salted food is in a great measure the cause of
this, —for fresh food is, after a time, almost

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209

loathed in a tropical climate ; and is peculiarly
disagreeable to the taste of a negro. But
although subject to boils, and other bad cuta-
neous eruptions, I never saw or heard of a case
of scrofula. The cutaneous diseases to which
negroes are subject, originate not unfrequently
from the mosquito bite, which, if indiscreetly
irritated, produces often very unpleasant con-
sequences. I do not hesitate to say that the
attention to negroes in sickness, is beyond all
praise, no personal trouble, time, nor expense
are spared ; and the sort of kindness shewn by
a slave proprietor towards his sick negro, is a
kindness involving much personal fatigue, and
many desctgremens . These are no sentimental
scenes of benevolent sensibility ; but the regular
dirty drudgery of an apothecary’s apprentice,
often without the soothing consolation of gra-
titude from the patient, or the approbation of
the society in which one lives. The colonists
have only one reward — and that is, that although
reviled and slandered by those who know them
not, they have still the consciousness of doing

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their duty. I do not mean to assert, however,
that all negroes are incapable of gratitude,
although the greater number consider the per-
sonal attentions of their master and mistress as
their right, and view it in no other light.

Of all the diseases to which negroes are
liable, none is so difficult of cure as the mat
t Vetomac ; and as this disease is of great import-
ance, and is extremely curious, from its con-
nexion with dirt-eating, I make no apology for
speaking at some length of one or two particular
cases. This disease assumes different forms ;
but in most cases, it is attended by deep de-
pression of spirits, and this not only in adults,
but in young subjects. The first case I saw
was in J— , a boy of about six years of age,
the son of J : she had been a very indif-

ferent character, never at work ; she was, how-
ever, very positive in her determination of curing
this child. The first day I saw him, he was
sallow, all the clear black hue of his skin was
gone; he did not complain, and when urged to

tell if he felt pain any where, he said he had

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211

none. I had him constantly near us, and saw
him cot his victuals every day ; I tried him
with bread and butter and tea for breakfast,
but after the second morning he would not eat
it ; he begged hard for a little bit of salt fish,
and this he got ; and by the help of this he ate
fully half a pound of bread for breakfast* and
drank a basin of tea. The medical gentleman
who saw him was desirous that he should eat
as little salted food as possible. 1 had chicken
soup made for him, but his stomach revolted
at it ; and he begged for plantain soup with
fish, or a little bit of pork. Boiled chicken
was next tried, — but this he also refused ; so
that it became impossible to get him to take
any food but the usual negro fare ; which 1
therefore had cooked as carefully as possible,
and of these messes he ate a prodigious quan-
tity,-—he seemed to have an unnatural appetite :
but to my astonishment, one day, I caught him
at his mother’s door with his mouth and hands
full of earth, which he was eating greedily.
Proper medicines were given to him, and he

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was watched very minutely ; but he was as
cunning as a fox, and if your eye was off him
for one minute, he was sure to have his mouth
full of earth. In less than a month his appe-
tite declined ; and excepting a little wine and
biscuit, he ate nothing: his mother however
persisted, that if he were in the country he
would be quite well ; and as neither medical
aid nor any care had produced the smallest
good effect (for he was daily wasting away),
she was allowed to take him to a short distance :
here no improvement took place, — his face
swelled, difficult breathing began, and he died
in about two months from the time he first
looked ill. He never complained of pain, and
always said he had none ,* he was listless, and
slept or rather dozed twenty hours out of the
twenty-four ; there was no possibility of amus-
ing him, or making him smile ,• he cared for
nothing, and used to recline all day with his
eyes half shut. He was the third remove by
both father and mother from African descent, —
he had never worked in his life, for his illness

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commenced just at the period when otherwise
some little employment would have been found
for him. His mother, I know, had whipt him ;
but I do not think she was inclined to be so
severe upon her child as most negresses are.

The next case I saw was M. ; she was a
native African. She also looked sallow; and
as soon as it was perceived, every aid was
afforded her. In about three weeks, she con-
tracted a bad cough, food was disagreeable to
her, and a little port wine was her only sup-
port; she was deeply depressed. I asked her
if she was unhappy,- — but she constantly said,
she had nothing to make her uneasy, u only
misses da cough hurt me head too much,” She
never was confined to her bed, but expired very
suddenly, without apparently being worse. She
too had latterly been in the habit of eating
dirt, and used to tell A. that she wished she
could, but indeed she could not, help it.

L- , the mother of the boy above men-

tioned, died very suddenly of mal d’etomac :
she loathed all sorts of food, and literally

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screamed for rum and water or wine, but rum
she preferred ; her pulse was very quick, her
cough frequent, and the doctor forbad her
tasting wine or spirits ; arrow-root and sago
were tried, but in vain; she got rapidly worse.
I saw her take her medicine several times every
day, — she became much depressed, and said
she was sure she would go dead. I tried every
method to soothe her and keep up her spirits,
but she declined rapidly ; and it was after she
had been confined about three weeks that I
discovered her eating the wood of her bedstead,
tearing it off in splinters, chewing it, and swal-
lowing it greedily.— She seemed half ashamed
of it, but it would have been of no use to have
spoken to her on the subject. She continued
to suffer much from cough, and pain in her
chest, and also complained of nausea. Her
death was sudden, for she was not ill more
than five or six weeks ; and the last day of her
life she was not worse than before : she was all
at once seized with a violent fit of coughing, — -
i raised her up in bed, but in vain ; she

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215

struggled dreadfully, and died in agony, after
about twenty minutes. Both her medical at-
tendant and her fellow servants considered her
disease mal d’etomac. She was two generations
removed from the native African, and about 28
years of age.

N- also died of mal d’etomac : he was

attacked by nausea and vomiting ; he could
retain no sort of food, nor even wine, upon his
stomach ; he ate dirt, and was given to occa-
sional excess in drinking ; he was from the first
confined to his bed, and died suddenly, in three

weeks from the first attack. O — is still

alive, or at least was so when I last heard of
him. He was attacked by mal d’etomac, in his
infancy. I never saw any one eat dirt as he
did; I have seen him sweep all the dry dust
round the servants’ houses into a heap, and
then actually lie down and put his mouth to it,
licking it up as if it had been the greatest
delicacy. Medicine he had of every descrip-
tion ; fresh food and salt food— every thing was
tried ; but nothing short of bodily confinement

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216

could prevent him eating dirt. The effect of
whipping was tried upon him, but this produced
no change; he was then brought beside us to
eat, and I saw him devour an amazing quantity
of good soup three times a day ; but the mo-
ment he thought no one saw him, he returned
to his habit ; and if he could not get dry earth,
he used to pull up the grass, and shaking the
earth that was attached to the roots, put it
into his mouth, as any other child would have
done with sweetmeats. He was depressed and
melancholy, yet he had all his wants supplied ;
and said he felt no pain : he never joined in the
sports of the other children, but sat with his
head reclined upon his hand, in a continual
doze, and you had to ask the same question
repeatedly before he was sufficiently roused to
give an answer. He had no want of appetite,
and was very fond of fruit ; this, however, was
not thought good for him, but he used to steal
it at every possible opportunity. His mother
seemed to dislike him, and therefore he was not
much with her ; but, in fact, he seemed to care

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217

for no one : if any of the other negro-children
teased him, he used to fight, and with a good
deal of bitterness, too. When I arrived in St.
Vincent, he was about six years of age, and I
never could perceive him much better or worse,
during the time I was in that colony. His
father was a negro, and his mother a coloured
woman ; the former a native of Dominica. I
had heard at home that dirt-eating was occa-
sioned by the longing of the native African to
return to his own country ; but I have had
abundant proof of the absurdity of this opinion,
for the disease is by no means so common in
the native African, as in the negro who is a
creole of the West Indies, and it is not unknown
as a disease among coloured people ; besides
which, it is not confined to the slave population,
for free negroes have often died from it : it is,
therefore, a most mistaken idea, that slavery
has anything to do with it. I saw still more of
this disease when I resided in Trinidad, and
only one of the cases there was an African
negro. In by far the greater number of in-

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WEST INDIES.

stances it is a fatal disease, and I cannot con-
ceive anything so melancholy as the appear-
ance of some of those I have seen labouring
under it. There is no doubt that the mind is
affected by it ; but there are many diseases to
which Britains are liable, of which melancholy
is a marked symptom also.

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219

CHAPTER IX.

THE NEGRO POPULATION.

Instruction of the negroes— Details of an attempt
at private instruction— Wesleyan missions , and
their results — Dancing— Change in the character
and conduct of the negroes — A negro's idea of
freedom.

It is a commonly received opinion in Britain,
that negroes are professed idolaters ; but the
fact is, that negroes are, although very ignorant
on the subject of religion, much better inform-
ed than is generally supposed. There is not a
trace of idol worship among them. I never could
hear of one instance of an adult negro who was
not baptized : there are indeed some young
children who are not baptized ; and it must be
recollected, that it is sometimes hazardous to

VOL. i.

L

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WEST INDIES.

bring a child twenty or more miles for this
purpose; but whenever there is a clergyman
near, numbers come forward to have their
infants baptized. I am convinced there is not
a negro, old or young, who could not tell that
one God made the world, and created mankind;
and that He is all-powerful, and all-seeing.
Such questions as these I have proposed a
hundred times to negroes of all classes, as well
as to children, and I have always received a
distinct and intelligent answer, in their own
dialect. Negroes therefore are not idolaters.

Negroes of decent habits (and here I use
decent in their sense of the word, meaning a
good negro), say their prayers every evening ;
and he is considered a very bad negro who
omits this : many say their prayers morning and
evening, and several have regular family-prayer,
at which others attend, as well as the negroes
of their own family. All tolerably good negroes
can say the Lord’s prayer, and many can repeat
the Creed; they all know the sin of swearing,
lying, theft, &c. Some few negroes can read,

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221

but the number is very small who possess this
advantage. Strange as it may seem, I never
asked a negro if he knew who was God’s Son,
(or the Redeemer of mankind), that he could
answer:—1 “ Me never know ’bout him,” was
the universal answer. I have put this question
to dozens of negroes of all ages, who were
in the habit of attending the Methodist chapel;
nay, who had attended for many years with
regularity, and yet it appeared that not one of
them had ever heard of the Saviour in so plain
a way as to convey to him an idea of his Being.
Nay, I have met with many of the lower class
of coloured people, who were equally ignorant ;
and it was witnessing this total ignorance of
the most important of all truths, that led me to
the conviction that religious instruction had
not hitherto been conveyed to the negro in a
sufficiently plain form, else they must have
known who was the Son of God.

As soon as I perfectly understood the negro
dialect, I commenced a regular system of in-
struction with our domestics ; not, however,

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WEST INDIES.

making it a matter of compulsion. I had
twenty under tuition at different times ; but I
never mustered more than from ten to fourteen
at once. One only could read a little ; he was
a head-servant, not in my family, but he was
ambitious of learning ; he had many good
points in his character, but I knew his character
for truth and honesty was not better than that
of his neighbours’ — yet even this man knew
not the name of a Redeemer. The rest were
all in the habit of attending the Methodist
chapel, but they were just as ignorant as he
was. I will not detail the system of instruction
which I pursued with my negroes, in leading
their minds from the simple apprehension of
a God, to the truths of the Gospel, and the
comprehension of a Saviour ; but when I
announced to my hearers the latter truth, tears
streamed down the cheeks of not a few of them.
But I would warn all who instruct negroes,
not to calculate too much upon the impression
made at such a time : those who do not calmly
reflect, are apt from such a circumstance as this

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o

to say, ‘‘look at the poor negro; he listens
with tears of joy to the glad tidings of salvation ;
and only see with what apathy, not to say
opposition, such a doctrine is often received in
Britain — but it is not a fair comparison; to
the savage there is, as it were, a new world
opened upon him; and it is the feeling of
surprise, more than heartfelt conviction of his
own condition and the merits of Christ, that is
the cause of his tears. I mention this, because
I was myself much misled from inexperience,
by witnessing the great emotion that many
negroes testified at first upon hearing such
subjects; but when I saw that it did not effect
their practical conduct in the slightest degree,
I of course was aware that it was merely a
passing ebullition of feeling. Any one instruct-
ing savages, ought to insist much upon practical
duties,— “ he who loveth Me, keepeth my
commandments these, and many such plain
and short sentences, I taught them to repeat.

I cannot help mentioning a singular notion
entertained generally by negroes, which I have

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WEST INDIES.

heard expressed many times. It was while
speaking of the resurrection of Lazarus, that
one of the negroes interrupting me, said,
“ Misses, vre all come live again, after we go
dead.” “ Yes,” said I, “at the resurrection, —
that is, the last day of the world, when every
one shall be raised from the dead, and appear
before God, as judge.” “Yes, misses,” replied
the negro, “ me know that ; we go dead one
day, next day we bury in a coffin, the third day
we shiver in a coffin , and den we go dead again
till all de world come quite done.” I need
scarcely say that I endeavoured to remove this
belief, but I found it to be almost an universally
received opinion among negroes. From religious
instruction, I went on to teach my pupils to
read. I began all of them with the letters:
but some of them, who were adults, were so
impenetrably dull, as to defy the possibility of
teaching them to read : two adults, however,
who knew not a letter when they began, read
a little, so as to understand, in three months ;
and the one who knew a little previously, got

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225

on still quicker ; — all these three could, by
attention, read a little of the Bible, The
children were clever, and learnt fast, but forgot
very readily. Negro children are, indeed*
peculiarly heedless,— I say peculiarly, because
there are few children who are not so, more or
less; but I have taught children, both in the
lower and higher ranks of life at home, to
read ; and although I cannot say that the negro
children were by any means behind in natural
ability, yet they were deficient in attention, far
beyond that of any children I ever met with ;
they are never done with tricks ; and unlike
a white child in the same rank of life, my
presence was not the slightest restraint to the
most ridiculous conduct; so that invariably
while I taught one, the others began a thousand
drolleries, which no reproof from me could
restrain. Indeed, I never saw a young negro
who possessed the slighest feeling of modesty
or shame.

I was desirous to try any thing but whipping;
so I used to have every night something nice to

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WEST INDIES,

give them for supper, and when they behaved
ill, I merely withdrew the reward ; but it had
little or no effect. The elder ones behaved
more attentively ; but the want of decorum was
still so great, that had not the men withdrawn
themselves voluntarily, I should have found it
necessary to dismiss them; for they became
latterly so forward, so presuming, and impudent,
that I had made up my mind that it was no
longer a duty to instruct those who conducted
themselves in a manner so devoid of all de-
corum,—knowing as they did, the impropriety
of it ; for it was an evil that increased, and
every succeeding day there was less and less
respect, until they became tired of learning, and
told me u they would not learn any more.” I
still continued to teach the children regularly ;
but they got very weary of it, and when I
attempted to explain anything to them, they
used to squat down on the floor, and sleep.

I believe novelty at first made them willing
to attend ; but when this charm was gone, they
preferred sleeping away the evening. I think,

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227

had I instructed them without referring to
practical duties, as incumbent upon those who
meant to lead a new life and become really
Christians, they would not have left off attend-
ing ; but so soon as I knew they were suf-
ficiently instructed to be able to follow the only
valuable use of religious knowledge, viz. the
personal application of it, I used to insist upon
this, and they uniformly manifested a great
aversion to such doctrine.

When I found them stealing, lying, or acting
cruelly to each other, I took them aside, and
endeavoured kindly to point out to them their
sin, as hateful in the sight of God, —that they
knew this, and that God would judge them by
the knowledge they now possessed : it is hardly
to be expressed how they disliked such a mode
of correction, and indeed they told me that
they “ would rather be flogged as be teased
so.” But I had a great aversion to corporal
punishment; and was most desirous that an
appeal to the feelings, aided by moral and re-
ligious instruction, should enable us to banish
all such debasing methods.

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WEST INDIES.

On these principles I proceeded, and followed
them up practically, — but I failed completely
in success, until our servants were justly con-
sidered the pest of the neighbourhood ; for they
became so bold (knowing that they would be
exempt from corporal punishment), that their
conduct became insupportable, and beyond all
comparison more practically wicked than when
I began to instruct them. B. and one or two
more, were for a time the most finished hypo-
crites I ever beheld : they had learnt at chapel
to groan, turn up their eyes, and indeed, as
well as all St. Vincent negroes, to say u please
God” at every sentence. Tell a child to bring
a tea-cup from the pantry, and the answer is
sure to be, “ Yes, misses, please God, I ’ll do
so directly/’ I did all I could to break them
of such expressions, as originating in hypocrisy,
and as utterly disgusting in common conversa-
tion. I have met with some in Britain, who
were of opinion that “ if the Lord will” ought
to be used upon all occasions ; for every thing,
say they, is uncertain in this world, — but to use
this, or any other similar expression, upon all

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229

occasions, degenerates into the ludicrous, and
indeed, becomes irreverence towards the Deity.
Suppose, when a mistress of a family orders
dinner, that her servant answers, “ Yes ma’am,
if the Lord will;” is not such an answer more
calculated to excite the risible faculties, than
to raise in the mind any recollection of the
uncertainty of earthly affairs? It is a thousand
pities that the negroes have acquired those
hypocritical forms, which considered as they are
by the negroes, as the sign of Christianity,
stand in the way of their advancement in true
religion.

Judging by the conduct of those negroes who
were the most regular attendants at the Metho-
dist chapel, I am unwillingly driven to the
belief, that the Methodist missions have done
little for the cause of true religion, and have
rather helped to foster dangerous delusion.
The Methodists I fear have done harm ; for
they have diffused a general feeling among the
negro population, that abstaining from dancing,
from drinking (a vice, by the way, which

230

WEST INDIES.

negroes are rarely prone to), and a certain
phraseology, which is mere form on their part,
is Christianity. Now it would be much better,
if the negroes were taught that lying, stealing,
cruelty to each other, or the brute creation,
slander, and disobedience, were sins in the
sight of God, rather than level their anathemas
against dancing—the favourite, and let me say,
the innocent, recreation of the negroes ; unless
when it trenches, as it sometimes does, upon
the sacredness of the Sabbath.

Religion of this kind, is the thing to take
with the negro: it invokes no self-denial,
excepting dancing ; and the renunciation of
gay clothes, and jewellery: fond as the negroes
are of dancing and fine clothes, they are more
willing to yield upon these points, than they
are to abstain from lying, theft, fighting,
cruelty, or slandering their neighbours. It is
not my intention to represent the Methodists as
approving or disregardless of the sins of lying,
theft, &c. I only mean to say, that they insist
very much more upon the sin of what they

WEST INDIES.

231

term £< vain amusements and dress/’ (and here
I use the very words of a negro upon this sub-
ject), than upon lying, theft, fighting, cruelty
and slander. Now the fact is, that the Me-
thodists are not in a condition to know much
of the every-day actions of negroes who are
slaves ; but the noise of dancing is constantly
obtruded upon them: The one they see ; the
other they do not see -and associating very
little with those who alone could give them a
true picture of the manners and habits of slaves,
they are necessarily, to a great extent, ignorant
of the true character, or the necessary manage-
ment of the slave population.

It was to me a matter of constant regret,
during the time that I resided both in St. Vin-
cent and in Trinidad, that there were no mis-
sionaries of the Established Church,— -men who
might have associated with the white popula-
tion, and have judged of them by personal, not
by hear-say knowledge ; and who, at the same
time that they mixed in general society, might
possess the necessary talent of levelling their

232

WEST INDIES.

ideas to the capacities of the ignorant and un-
educated,—-men willing to converse familiarly
with the negro ; to visit them personally — to
listen patiently to the recital of long and often
very silly quarrels : in short, it requires no
usual endowments of piety and talent to be a
really useful missionary among the negro popu-
lation of the West Indies ; and there is another
no less necessary qualification — - a previous
knowledge of the world ; for if one has only
lived at home within the limited sphere of a
religious connexion, he is little suited to fill
such a situation with prudence, or to be of real
benefit to the negro. Such persons, though
perhaps truly pious and excellent characters,
are possessed of little or no discernment. The
first time they see the emotion of a negro, when
instructing him in religion, they are in trans-
ports of joy ; enthusiastically persuaded that
they have only to preach, and the bulk of the
negroes will believe ; — they forget that they are
speaking to a people emerging only from a
savage state ; and that the emotions and feel-

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233

ings of an untutored savage, are not the same
as the emotion and feeling of a civilized being,
whose passions and emotions are artificially
controlled. They know not the quickly passing
feelings of a negro ; and when they see him
shed tears at the history of the sufferings of our
Saviour, they too often set him down as a
sincere convert, without waiting to see whether
his emotion has been of such a nature as to
produce any practical revolution in his conduct.

It cannot, I think, be doubted, that the
slanders which have long been commonly re-
tailed against the whole white population of
the colonies, have originated, in a great measure,
from the false impressions received by persons,
in themselves perhaps really pious, but totally
ignorant of the state of any society at home,
except what is generally called u the religious
world ; scarcely knowing, and never having
had any experience, of that far larger world
that lies without. Such persons, on going to
the West Indies, find no “ religious world/*
and are shocked with the aspect of society ;

234

WEST INDIES.

and without taking into consideration the de-
moralizing effects of a bad system, lay all the
evil they see at the door of the white population.
No class of persons, I repeat, are so little quali-
fied to judge correctly of the state of the West
Indies, as those who at home were confined
within their own exclusive religious world. 1
have heard them speak with lamentation of the
hard work of negro domestics, and the little
time at their disposal for religious duties ,* but
do such persons know anything of the condition
of servants in the fashionable society of Eng-
land ? — if they did, they would surely bewail
also the condition of the coachmen, footmen,
and ladies’ maids,— whose lives are a nightly
slavery ; but these good men know only the
condition of servants in the religious world, and
the regular tenor of their lives is the standard
by which they judge of the labour of the do-
mestic negro.

Respecting the general religious instruction
of the negro population, or rather, the long
continued want of it,— I do not blame the pro-

WEST INDIES.

235

prietors for not imparting knowledge to their
negroes ; this they could not have generally
done ; but their error was, in not representing
to government the impropriety of keeping such
a population without the means of regular
religious instruction from the Church of Eng-
land. Bat if the proprietors were to blame in
not representing this — in the strongest possible
light, too — the Church of England was also no
less careless in not attending to the spiritual
wants of such a body of people. The dissenters
saw the error, and availed themselves of the
opportunity ; and it would be most unjust not
to say, that they merit great credit for the wish
to dispense the glad tidings of salvation among
the negroes : it is only to be lamented, that
their zeal has so far exceeded their prudence;
and that the missionaries employed, although
often pious and not unlearned, are ignorant of
the world, and so very unpolished as to render
it impossible for them to mix in the good society
of the West Indies. It has very commonly
been repeated, and very generally believed, that

236

WEST INDIES.

the colonists have discouraged, in every way,
the instruction of the negroes ; I have never
seen any opposition thrown in the way of negro
religious or other instruction. On many of the
St. Vincent estates, the Wesleyan missionaries
preached, and had also schools for religious
instruction. There is even, if I mistake not,
more than one private chapel upon some of the
estates, supplied by the Wesleyan Methodist
missionaries, built by the proprietors of the
estates. 1 am, at all events, certain there is one
such which is regularly so supplied ; and al-
though the proprietor be himself a steady and
conscientious member of the Church of Eng-
land, he built this chapel in order to procure
regular instruction for his negroes.

I have several times attended evening service
in the Wesleyan chapel, and found the con-
gregation numerous; far exceeding that of the
Established Church. Many of the most respect-
able members of the white population were
present; although the majority were always
coloured and black. The congregation in-

WEST INDIES.

237

variably listened with attention, and the utmost -
decorum was uniformly preserved ; save and
except the too frequent groans, and deep sighs,
to which I have already alluded.

Although the white and coloured population
who attended the Methodist chapel, were of
course, in general, able to understand the
discourse, I feel convinced (after having devoted
myself a good deal to the instruction of negroes)
that the slave population comprehended almost
nothing of it.

Our own people always attended, and in-
variably asserted that they u understood all
that the parson told them but when I came
to examine them upon what they had heard, it
was evident that they had not one rational or
distinct idea upon the subject, although many
of them had attended regularly for years.

The frequent change of the missionaries'
stations, seems to me to be very injudicious, for
it puts it more in the power of the negro to
deceive the missionary, and deprives the mis-
sionary of proof on a most important matter, — -
namely, the stability of his converts.

238

WEST INDIES.

It was a subject of constant regret among the
St. Vincent proprietors, that there were no
Moravian missionaries on that island. They
were often mentioned to me by different gentle-
men who had been in Antigua, and became
acquainted with their general plans of instruc-
tion, as much more likely to be of real service
than any other sect. I was told that industry
and cleanliness were not even excluded from
their admonitions; but they inculcated those
virtues upon the negroes, both by precept and

4

example; so that even where a real convert was
not made, the cause of civilization was advanced.
I cannot help adding to this notice of the
Wesleyan missions, that the discouragement
given to social recreations, and especially to
dancing, is far from favourable to their utility.
An affectation of austerity is substituted for
religion,— and I may state from my own expe-
rience, that they were the best behaved and
most orderly negroes, who were most constant in
the dance; while the bad and disorderly did
not join in social amusement, but went off the

WEST INDIES.

239

estate, either for plunder or other mischief. 1
have witnessed many negro dances, and they
were always conducted with great ceremony
and propriety ; and I do think, that if a
Methodist missionary were to witness a few of
such scenes, it might help to disabuse him of
some of his prejudices. I therefore again re-
peat, that it is to be lamented that so much is
left to the Wesleyan missionaries, and that the
Church should not have been more on the alert
in this matter. I am strongly inclined to doubt
—however the people in England may be dis-
posed to think otherwise-— if the civilization of
the negro, or his instruction in religion, can
ever take place so as to have any extensively
beneficial effect, without the co-operation of the
planters. It appears to me, that the negro
is led as much by the white population, as the
lower classes in Great Britain formerly were led
by the higher. Every circumstance which can
tend to rouse the attention of the higher classes
in the West Indies to the subject of religion,
would do more ultimate good than any of those

240

WEST INDIES.

methods which some have suggested -methods
indeed, which prove how very ignorant all such
people are of the nature of a human being
emerging only from a savage state. These
opinions, upon which the plans of the religious
world are founded, appear so amiable, so
christian-like, and latterly have become so
fashionable, that it seems temerity almost to
assure my readers, that beautiful as all those
theories are, they are mere theories, and will
not stand the test of practice. I was early
tutored in them, and once admired them as
much as they now do, I acted upon them in
the West Indies for some time; and nothing
but the actual experience of living among
negroes and teaching them, both during week
days and on the sabbath, has convinced me
that the present plans of those who wish to do
good, are replete with disappointment and
danger.

While upon the subject of instruction, and
the tractableness of the negro character, I can-
not omit taking some notice of the sensation

CD

WEST INDIES.

241

produced by the rumours that first reached the
West Indies on the subject of the abolition of
slavery. These rumours were vague and vari-
ous ; and some gave out, that government,
mot convinced upon the subject, were resolved
to appoint commissioners of inquiry, who were
coming out to examine into the state of affairs.

A sensation was produced, much like that
which I suppose might be produced in any
county in England, were it understood that
commissioners were appointed to come there,
and examine into the proceedings of the justices
of the peace, the moral habits of the inha-
bitants, and their conduct towards their de-
pendents; and also to examine into the internal
economy of their estates, and whether they
behaved kindly and generously to their work
people ; and lastly, to examine their servants
as to those particulars, and learn whether they
had any complaints to make against their
masters.

It was generally supposed that this was what
the commissioners came out to investigate ; and

242

WEST INDIES,

although the planters had no reason to shrink
from the investigation, yet that person must
be indeed destitute of feeling, if he can calmly
look forward to such proceedings without his
mind being deeply wounded.

There is nothing more unpleasant than to lie
under suspicion, and surely cruelty is a crime
of the deepest dye,- — therefore deeply as every
proprietor of negroes felt the degradation, of
being suspected of the crimes alleged against
him, he also felt satisfaction in having nothing
to conceal. It is not my business to say any
thing here of the opinions of the commissioners :
but I am much mistaken if they left the West
Indies with precisely the same opinions with
which they arrived there ; and in particular,
if they did not look back upon the Island of
St. Vincent as the land of real kindness and
hospitality.

Mr. Maddock, the commissioner, whose life
unfortunately was sacrificed to the climate of
St. Lucia, left a few lines expressive of his
opinion of the society of Trinidad, which were

WEST INDIES.

243

published in the Port of Spain Gazette almost
immediately after his deaths and which will not
soon be forgotten.

It says not a little for the liberal sentiments
of the population of St. Vincent, that notwith-
standing the sensation produced by the first
intelligence of commissioners coming out, never-
theless, when those commissioners did come,
they were received with, I think, more kindness
than most strangers find in England, — although
these may have arrived with letters of introduc-
tion more likely, one would imagine, to serve
as a batter passport, than bearing with them
a commission of inquiry. The planters were
at this time greatly distressed from the low
prices of produce, &c. ; but the people upon
their estates were very manageable, and in
general contented and happy. Very few punish-
ments had taken place ; and upon many estates
there had been no punishment for a series of
years, even where there was a large gang of
negroes. I recollect one estate in particular,
where, although the negroes were not much

VOL. i.

M

244

WEST INDIES.

under 300, in the space of seven years not one
instance of punishment had occurred. Now
if I mistake not, this says much in favour of
him who could manage a West Indian estate so,
and it also proves that the slaves were contented
and happy. Indeed one had only to walk
about the estates in the vicinity of Kingstown
— as I was in the habit of doing every morning
and afternoon, and see how cheerful the slaves
were, to be convinced that the idea of slavery,
as a bondage, was the last thought that ever
entered their minds.

Although few slaves can read, yet there are
many free negroes and coloured people who
can, and who do read the English newspapers ;
and the very memorable debates in parliament
upon the subject of slavery soon found their
way, in a most distorted and mangled form,
to the negroes, — and the effect was instantly
visible. There was a total change of conduct:
and the behaviour of the negroes to me, said
plainly enough, — take care what you are about,
for if you dare to find fault with me, I ’ll make
you smart for it.

WEST INDIES.

245

Perfect confidence in the slave population
I never had felt. Now, however, I experienced
very different feelings : for I felt that I was
living among people dependent upon me, whom
I had every inclination to be kind to and
instruct, but who were now determined to be
influenced by no treatment however kind ; and
who shewed in their every action that they
looked upon men being their proprietor , as
necessarily their enemy. I had acted always,
I trust, kindly to the domestic slaves around
me : I had daily devoted a certain portion of
time to their religious and moral instruction,
and I thought I had to a great extent gained
their confidence ; but it was gone, as a flash of
lightning : and those whom I had done the
most for, and who were the most intelligent
and best knew their duty, turned out imme-
diately upon the arrival, or indeed a little before
the arrival of the commissioners, the most
worthless and disreputable of all characters;
and moreover so insolent, that I was terrified
to make a request to a servant, though I can

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246

WEST INDIES.

truly say, I had never used a harsh word in
my life to any one of them.

From this moment, all possibility of instruct-
ing the slave through the medium of the master,
I feared was gone ; they now considered all
masters as tyrants; and some of them even
understood that it was no fault to run off alto-
gether, thus setting all law and good order at
defiance.

The negroes from this moment believed that
Massa King George had said they were all to
be free — a term very differently understood by
the negroes and by their advocates on this side
of the water. By free, a Briton means that the
negro is no longer to be the property of his
master, but situated as labourers are in Eng-
land ; that is, he is to work for his own and
his family’s support, or starve. But the word
free means quite another thing in the negro
sense ; for they tell me that it means “ there
is to be no massas at all, and Massa King
George is to buy all the estate and gie them to
live upon for as they have often added to me —

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247

Misses, what signify free, if we have to vorck;
if we be to vorck, we just as soon and sooner
vorck for white massa than any one ; white
massa deal better than black massa; and as for
slave that signify noting at all, for if we be to
vorck, we’re better slave than free, misses.”
This is the genuine sentiment of not one, but
almost all negroes ; and freedom to them with-
out a total exemption from regular work, would
not by the majority be considered a boon, but
the very reverse.

These were in themselves great evils for the
colonists. The negro’s daily work was per-
formed with much more than his usual indo-
lence, and was often altogether neglected ; the
consequences of such conduct upon estates was
necessarily productive of the worst effects — the
stock was neglected, and the crops fell short
for want of the necessary exertion on the part
of the labourer-evils too, which no kindness
or reproof could obviate. Neither would any
planter, under such uncertainty, venture to
begin any improvement, or go on with those

248

WEST INDIES.

commenced ; and an estate which might have
turned out tolerably well, and be kept out of
debt by good management and judicious im-
provement, was by these unexpected measures
plunged into the greatest distress. The mort-
gagee at home began also to feel that he could
not expect much longer to have any good
security for his money ; and therefore he felt it
prudent to arrange his accounts with the estate
as speedily as possible. If the unfortunate
proprietor could not come to a settlement, there
was only one other method — the estate must
be sold for the benefit of the mortgagee ; and
as for the proprietor and his family, they must
do what they could to procure an uncertain
pittance. No one resident in the West Indies
can deny the perfect truth of this statement:
and from being an eye-witness of such facts, I
knew what great cause the planters had to
complain. There is hardly a possibility, if a
planter’s estate is sold for debt, of his ever
again being able to do any thing for his family.
This must necessarily prey upon the spirits of

WEST INDIES.

any honorable man, and many have already
fallen untimely victims to it.

These results I have often heard regretted
by the negro himself, intoxicated as he was by
the wild notions which he had imbibed. It is,
indeed, no light thing for negroes to have to
part with their master-— -their own expression
is this, “ He ’s a bad massa when we don’t
find the want of him.” To the good negro,
a change of master is not agreeable, even
although the change should be to a richer,
and one equally kind. But it is otherwise
with bad characters, who have it' in their
power to deceive a person who is a stranger
still more easily than an old master. I trust
that in the observations I have made, I have
not been misunderstood ; it is not my inten-
tion to reprobate inquiry, still less, to defend
slavery. But I could not be silent as to the
unfortunate results of the injudicious harangues
made in parliament from time to time, and
the support given to impracticable theories —
dangerous alike to the slave and the colonist—

250

WEST INDIES.

on the part of the Society for the Suppression
of Slavery. Deeply have the colonies suffered
from the promulgation of wrong-headed plans^
and from the intemperate zeal and mistaken
kindness of the abolitionists*

WEST INDIES.

251

I

CHAPTER X.

Idolatry — Obeah , witchcraft — Negro honesty , and
anecdotes — ■ Gentleness — Anecdotes - — Affection .

There must, I am convinced, be old Afri-
cans, who cannot have forgotten such things as
the worship of idols, but people seem not to be
aware, that in Africa very many negro nations
are not idolaters, but Mahometans : this was a
subject which I searched into minutely, and I
never found one native African who did not
positively deny all knowledge of such a thing as
idol worship. At the same time I do not doubt,
that even if they did remember it, they might
have denied it; because native Africans do not

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252

WEST INDIES.

at all like it to be supposed that they retain the
customs of their country ; and consider them-
selves wonderfully civilized by their being trans-
planted from Africa to the West Indies. Creole
negroes invariably consider themselves superior
people, and lord it over the native Africans.

I never found any who knew the name of
Mahomet ,* but probably if I had known the
name in Mandingo, I might have been able to
make them understand me better. Several
native Africans have told me, that in their
country u they went every fourth day to church,
to say prayers to one very great Massa, whom
the great God sent down into the world a long
time back to teach people to be very good.
The great Massa never corned to Africa, but he
stop in a country far off from them, where the
sun rise.” These and similar stories I have
received from native Africans. They seemed
indignant at the idea that they should be sup-
posed capable of idol worship, and this without
one exception ; yet many have made no secret
of admitting to me, without any disguise, that

WEST INDIES.

253

their nation ate human flesh ; but of this I
shall speak more hereafter.

Negroes are superstitious ; but I never met
with one whose superstition, although different,
was at all more absurd than the superstition of
many of the lower classes in Scotland.

The Obeah of the negro is nothing more or
less than a belief in witchcraft; and this ope-*
rates upon them to such a degree, as not uafre-
quently to produce death. There is not perhaps
a single West Indian estate, upon which there
is not one or more Obeah men or women ; the
negroes know who they are, but it is very diffi-
cult for white people to find them out. The
way in which they proceed is this : suppose a
negro takes a dislike to a negro or negroes,
either upon the same estate with himself or
upon another, he goes to the Obeah woman or
man, and tells them that he will give money, or
something else as payment, if they will Obeah
such and such persons. The Obeah (woman)
then goes to those people, and tells them that
she has obeahed them : she of course tells them

254

WEST INDIES.

that this is an impulse over which she has no
control : slow poison is at times secretly ad-
ministered, but in by far the greater number of
cases the mind only is affected ; the imagination
becomes more and more alarmed, — the spirits
sink,- — lassitude and loss of appetite ensue, and
death ends the drama.

The practise of Obeah is too common among
negroes, and very fatal to them ; I knew of an
instance w7here fifteen people, in the course of a
few months, died from no other cause. It is
in vain to reason with them,— “ Misses, I’m
obeahed — I know I’ll go dead,v is all you can
obtain from them. Negroes so firmly believe
this, that they have bottles hung round and
about their houses, and in their grounds, full of
some sort of infusion which they prepare to
prevent the Obeah from affecting them; they
often wear an amulet, or some such thing, as a
charm for the same purpose.

The practice of Obeah is death, by the laws
of St. Vincent, but there is no possibility of
conviction. Negroes believe that spirits occa-

WEST INDIES.

255

sionally appear, and that devils, or as they call
them, jumbees, are frequently to be seen; nay,
that jumbee sometimes compels them to go
away with him, and run off from their master ;
but I rather think they make a convenience of
jumbee upon such occasions.

The name is different,— but the truth is,
negroes believe in witchcraft; and so do many
of the lower orders in Britain. I have seen
country servants, in the county of Mid Lothian,
who were as firm believers in it as any negro
can be, I have seen a dairy-maid churn, with
the dairy locked, for fear of a man coming in,
whose eye she declared would have such an
effect as to spoil the butter. I have often
reasoned with this woman, who was in all other
respects a shrewd, sensible female, for her rank
in life; and she never ceased to tell me, that if
I disbelieved in witches, I must also disbelieve
the Bible: there was no arguing with her; in
her opinion, it was sacred ground. Indeed, she
was not a solitary instance. I have often heard
the lower classes in Scotland use the same

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argument. Not long ago a respectable man,
in one of the western counties of England, sent
to borrow a churn from a lady of my acquaint-
ance; because, as he alleged, “ the devil had
got into his churn, and he could not make
butter in it.”

The existence of Obeah by no means implies
that negroes are idolaters; for Obeah is only
their term for witchcraft, — a belief in which, is
not necessarily connected with idolatry.

It appears almost temerity for any one at the
present day to attempt to delineate the cha-
racter of negroes as they really are ; for they
have been for a length of time described to the
world, as beings, although destitute of religion,
yet so gentle, so amiable, so inoffensive, so
patient under oppression, so affectionate and
faithful, even to their tyrants, that had I not
lived among them, and found that after all that
had been said, this was only a dream of the
imagination, I should probably to this moment
have believed that Christian virtues exist in a
superior degree where Christianity sheds her

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257

dimmest light. But a few years’ residence
among negroes, went far to lead me to a
sounder way of thinking.

The first defect of character which struck me
as very marked among negroes, was a love of
deceit. The day I landed in the West Indies,
I was shocked to see many of oar servants so
badly clothed, particularly as they informed
me that they had no other clothes, not having
even a change; and they declared they had not
received any for some years. Of course they
were soon well clothed ; but the females
grumbled at the kind of clothing which I
gave them, although it was quite as good as
any respectable female servant would wish for
at home. Shortly afterwards it was ascertained
that they had recently received clothing; yet
they firmly denied it, — and it was supposed
they had sold it, — however, as they still denied
having ever received any, no further question
was put to them. But about six or eight
months after my arrival, B. made his appear-
ance one morning in a new blue cloth jacket.

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I said, “Well, B., you have got a nice new
jacket; did you buy it ready-made V’ for I had
not a suspicion how he came by it. “ Yes,
misses,” said B. P., a little fellow who was
learning to be a house-servant, burst into a fit
of undisguised laughter, and said “ that what
he get from massa (meaning the attorney),
when he down to leeward.” B. instantly
struck him over the mouth ; but the lad owed
B. a grudge, and added, “ you say so ; don’t
I know my mamma and sissy (sister) hae their
bamboo (woollen dresses) too.” When I first
came amongst them, I told them whatever they
wished for, to come to their master or myself,
and if we could give them what they desired,
they should have it; but I hoped they would
not take what did not belong to them without
asking permission. I also added, If any acci-
dent happen to you, come and tell the truth, —
accidents will happen occasionally, — but I shall
never find fault with those who tell the whole
truth. But it was in vain ; nothing that was
broken or destroyed was ever mentioned, and

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259

when it was of necessity found out, “no one do
it but da ratta” (the rats). In eighteen months
they broke a whole set of dinner ware, and it
was the rats did the whole !

I have seen negro servants appear with part
of my wardrobe, and wear it without fear of
detection, or shame at being a thief. A ring of
some value, and a silver thimble, which was
merely valuable as the gift of a friend whose
initials were on it, disappeared ; a search was
made, every one was asked, — but in vain, no
trace of it was to be seen. Their master was so
annoyed, that he told them that unless the ring
was produced before night, he would have the
matter fully investigated, and they would cer-
tainly be punished, that is, flogged : the ring
therefore was put down on the table of one
of the chambers, before the family retired to
rest ; the thimble, however, was destined to
appear on another occasion. The sewing of
a mattress having given way, Q • — - , one of
the female servants, came up to sewf it: she
had on a silver thimble ; this I did not wonder

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at, for no negro would be so vulgar as to use a
thimble of base metal ; but I thought I saw

initials on it. u I said, Q , will you be so

good as to shew me that thimble for a moment ?”
The identical initials were upon it.— I asked
her how she had got this : “ I got it from

2) — y ’ answered Q. “ Do you know where
he got it?” “ Yes, misses, I seed him buy it;
he buyed long afore you corned to St. Vincent,
when he lived with the manager, and he gave
it to me in change for a bunch of blue and red
beads, for he wife H. misses. I ’ll take the
book and swear to it, if you misbelieve me.”
Nowit was quite needless for me to reason upon
such a point, for the thimble w?as of a peculiar
pattern, which others in the family knew as
well as myself, and the initials were there plain
enough — yet this woman was actually angry
because I would not stop to hear her swear
a false oath.

Negro methods of theft defy the most watch-
ful eye. I never wrent to my store room that I
did not miss some article or other, yet it was

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261

not once in twenty cases that I could discover
the thief. I was certain as to missing bottles
of Madeira at different times ; and though
I watched as minutely as I could, yet I never
saw one of them removed. The cellar had a
double door, with a very strong lock on each
door; the windows were secured across with
wooden rails, none of these were ever broken or
displaced, and as they were old, had they been
removed and put in again, it could not have
escaped notice. I tried to put a bottle of wine
through these bars, but could not succeed ; yet
it so happened, that returning quickly to the
cellar one day after I had left it, I found a
bottle of wine, with the neck of it sticking
through the bars, and B — — hastily retreating
- from the spot when he saw me. When I
pointed it out to him : he said, “ Misses, that
be very strange, it must be Jumbee do so.” At
that time I could not comprehend, or discover
how B. or anybody else had got the bottle to
the window, — or how, if got there, it could be
taken away, — yet I knew that many had disap -

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peared ; and it was not till I had left St. Vin-
cent, and resided in Trinidad, that I learnt the
ingenuity of the thief. I was then told by
B.\s fellow servant, that he had a way of
putting a string round the bottle when in the
cellar without my seeing, and he put the end
of the string through the window-bars ; and
when I was gone, he drew it to the bars, and
placing the neck through the bars, he drew the
cork, poured out the wine, and then breaking
the bottle, carried away the fragments.

B, could pack pretty well, and I employed
him the day before I left St. Vincent in packing
a case of liquor, and so very clever was he in
his mode of deceit, that although I stood by
the whole time till the box was packed and the
lid nailed on, — after which it was deposited
where he had no access to it, — yet when this
case was opened, the bottles were found all
empty, and they were not the bottles I had
given him to put in; for those I gave were
French bottles, and the ones he put in were
English ; now he must have contrived while

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263

wrapping the straw round each bottle, to place
an empty English bottle instead of a French
full one.

Negroes will steal, cheat, and deceive in every
possible way, and that with a degree of adroit-
ness that baffles the eye and the understanding
of any European ; and what is worse, they
invariably get into a passion if you refuse to
let them take the book, and swear to the truth
of what you know to be false. They have not
the slightest sense of shame ; and it not unfre-
quently happens that if you threaten them,
they will, after the most solemn asseverations
of their not having touched the article in ques-
tion, actually bring it and lay it down before
you. I found it almost impossible to keep
poultry for the use of my family; for so soon as
I bought them, the negroes sold them again
in the market-place. All my servants kept
poultry ; and strange to tell, my hens during
the short time I was able to keep them, never
were known to lay an egg, but the negroes had
always plenty to sell to me from their own

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fowls. The cow sometimes would give no milk
for several successive days ; but I found that
it was milked over night, and the bottle of
milk sold in the market, which brought thirteen
pence to the thief. The elder negroes teach
theft to their children as the most necessary
of accomplishments ; and to steal cleverly, is
as much esteemed by them as it was by the
Spartans of old. I have had such incontro-
vertible proofs of this, that it was the know-
ledge of it that induced me to recommend
separating the children from their parents, at
the age when they are taught stealing as an
important lesson.

It is very rarely that you can catch a negro
stealing, for they have a thousand ways of
throwing you off your guard. I recollect H.
coming up one day with a spoon for medicine
for her child : I noticed that the spoon was
silver, and had upon it the initials of a gentle-
man’s name whom I knew. I said, Where did
you get this spoon ? u Misses, I buyed him in
a market for one bit,” (four pence). I had

WEST INDIES.

265

not then been long in the West Indies, but I
afterwards found this nothing uncommon. It
would be tedious to go on with such details ; I
only repeat that truth, honesty, or any fear of
false swearing, is unknown in the negro cha-
racter; at all events, if there are any individuals
whose truth, whose honesty, or whose oath
can be relied upon, I regret to say that after
living many years among negroes, and study-
ing their characters very carefully, I only met
with two who shewed any fear of lying,- — they
were both creoles of St. Kitts, slaves in
Trinidad, and very interesting characters as
negroes— but I dare not in truth say more,
even of those, because I have seen that their
honesty and truth were not altogether unim-
peachable, though as negroes they were indeed
wonders.

Nothing can be more absurd than to talk of
the gentle negro; — they are passionate and
furious beyond all description ; they flog, bite,
kick, pinch, spit, and fly at each other like
wild beasts, and all often about the merest

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trifles. Husbands are most cruel to their wives,
and will not under any circumstances be per-
suaded to desist from flogging them. Sunday
is always the principal day for fighting : after
they had returned from chapel, we often found
it impossible to read, from the noise of their
brawls. One morning we heard a desperate
noise, and upon asking B. what was the matter,
he said it was only R, (< cobbing he wife that
is, flogging. R. was a very respectable negro;
he was practically free, because he had leave
from his master to work for himself ; but not
being legally manumitted, he drew his allow-
ances, and had many advantages which legal
manumission would have deprived him of ; as,
in the case of sickness or old age he had every
thing provided for him. B. said this with the
greatest nonchalance, although the screams
were violent. We sent for R. : he came in,
and made his bow, apparently aware of what
he had been sent for: u Massa, misses, ” said
he, u I axe pardon for holding so much uproar,
but no man could bear he wife to behave so as

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267

mine do, and not punish well. I have stopt
her,” said he with great warmth, u and she’ll
be braver than I think she is, if she do the like
again.” u But don’t you think R., as your
wife seems a civil sort of woman, that if you
had calmly told her when she was in the wrong
she would have begged your pardon, and done
so no more? for it is dreadful to see how you
negroes flog your wives ; no white man dare do
so.” u Massa, they no need ; they wive quite
differ from we wive; (misses, I axe pardon),
but massa, ’pose (suppose) you wife cheat you
out of one joe (1/. 4s. 6d.), and go buy fine
gown ; no mind you shirt, but make fine dress;
go out, no say one word ; cook no supper, all
house go wrong ; go dance all night, you no at
that dance ; she top out all night, come in a
morning as impudent as one monkey to cook a
breakfast, — massa, would you no lick her well ?
—mayhap law no let you do so ; for if law go

hinder me, I ’d bear bad heart to S. , and

some day I ’d may be gie her a death’s dose.”
We tried to persuade him that he had corrected

VOL. i.

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her at all events too severely, but his answer
was this — *u Massa, ’tis to no prepise (purpose)
to tell me all dat; white man have good wife,
and they no know how heavy they ’d lay on if
they wife was to do so.”

One evening Q. and her husband were, as
her mother A. denominated it, trying who ’d
kill each other fastest ; Q. had been thrown
down upon the stones in the court-yard ; her
master thought it time to interfere, and told T.
her husband, to desist, but in vain ; he said,
u Massa, she be your nigger, but my wife.”

But she’s my flesh and blood,” retorted her
mother : ” ** and she be my sissy,” said P.,
and like furies they fell upon T. ; biting,
scratching, kicking, and spitting, like cats,
until it became necessary to lay violent hands
on the whole party, and commit them for the
night to the stocks to cool their rage. The
cause of their quarrel was this : — Q. had not
mended T.’s clothes properly, who was a trades-
man, and at the same time he found out that
she was making money by taking in needle-

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269

One night very late, B. came and told me
his wife K. was very bad indeed. She did not
belong to us ; but being his head wife she lived
in his house. We went down to see her, and
asked her if her mistress knew that she was
sick. “ Yes, massa, she had doctor to me; he
gie me some tuff (physic) to take.” “ Did you
take it ?” “ No.” — " Why V9 “ ’Cause it

smell very bad.” — “ Massa,” said B., “ she
fool too much ; me will beat her well when da
sick go off; she take ipecacuanha bush root to
eat, and she eat too much, go kill herself.”
An emetic was given her, and she was soon
relieved. We entreated B. not to beat her;
but he did not mind what we said, and kept his
word, flogging her severely. Indeed there
never was a week during my residence in St.
Vincent, that K. was not flogged by B. ; yet
he spoke kindly enough at times to her, though
he always kept her at a distance.

Negro mothers, with only one exception, I
have found cruelly harsh to their children ;
they beat them unmercifully for perfect trifles — ■

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omissions perhaps in punctilio towards them.

I have frequently seen mothers flog their chil-
dren severely for forgetting to say yes or no
ma’am, to them ; for a negro child is early
drilled by them to call their mothers “ ma’am,”
or a reputed father “ sir.” A. was smoothing
clothes, when Q., her eldest daughter, came
too near the ironing table ; she still persisted
in annoying her mother in this way, until
A. took the hot smoothing iron and clapped
it upon Q.’s back, which to this day bears
evident marks of the mother’s cruelty. I
did not see this action, but A. has often told
me of it, as a good story ; and the mark be-
tween Q.’s shoulders is still to be seen plain
enough. I have seen a negro beat and scratch
her daughter violently, when that daughter too
was within a few weeks of her confinement,
merely for suffering a chicken to fly into a pail
of water, although the bird escaped unhurt. I
have also seen a mother severely beat her child
who was sickly, because he had eaten a roasted
plantain which she intended for herself ; and

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271

when begged to desist ; and when the boy was
removed from her by his brother and another
negro, she next day, on seeing him, almost bit
off his ear, which continued a bad sore for
many months after. I have seen a brother and
sister butt each other like cows, bite, and try
to fasten their teeth into the fleshy part of each
other’s shoulders : I have seen sisters box each
other’s faces, and bite so dreadfully, that they
have borne the marks of each other’s fury for
weeks. I have known a mother who, whenever
she saw her son, tried to stone him ; and more
than once she has cut his head severely; till at
length so afraid was the child, that if he saw
his mother at a distance, he would, as he ex-
pressed it, u run as if Jumbee were after him.”
But after all, this is nothing to what I witnessed
in Trinidad,— the island of experiment,— of
which hereafter.

One Sunday afternoon, H. came into the
court-yard scolding violently. V. took up the
leaf of a table, and literally belaboured H. with
it until she fell down ; when V. threw herself

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upon her, and fastened her nails and teeth in
her. On all such occasions there is only one
process — and that is, forcibly to separate the
parties, and put them in the stocks. The
quarrel originated in V. having reported that
H. had been guilty of some theft.

One day, one of my children remarked that
the glass of water she had got was not clean.
B. was told civilly to bring another glass of
water ; but he stood immoveable ; P. brought
one. B. was evidently quite offended. After
dinner, the child went into the back gallery to
play, where B. had to pass in carrying out
dinner: the child was at the time an infant,
just two years old; we heard her coughing,
crying, and apparently choking, and asked B.
if anything had bitten the child. “ No, massa,
she cry for fun.” Impossible, said I, she
would not cry and choke so for fun ; but Mr.
— ■ — , more alive to negro character than I was,
noticed a table napkin in B?s hand, and that
the child’s mouth was all over yellow. “ What
have you got there?” “ Massa, noting at all

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273

but one towel. ” — “ Shew me.” B. attempted
to go away; but we secured the towel, in which
was a tea-cup with mustard, mixed too with
country peppers, and a tea-spoon. The child,
when she had recovered the use of speech, told
that B. had given her something that he said
was good and sweet, and that she took it. Yet
B. positively denied it, although the child's
mouth was blistered both inside and out. This
kind of revenge is common among negroes, —
that is, hasty, momentary revenge ; but no in-
dividual negro is apparently given to lay deep
schemes of revenge, and if he do not revenge
himself quickly, he is not likely to do so at all.
These little details may be deemed trifles by
some ; they are indeed trifles ; but they are
trifles which certainly illustrate negro cha-
racter.

You may punish a negro either by flogging
or confinement, and he may and will look
sulky at the moment; but strange to tell, the
next half hour he forgets it, has no feeling of
shame at all, and begins to talk and chatter,

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the same as if nothing had happened. C,
one of our negroes, was a singular character;
full of frolic, he had a way of turning off every
thing with a joke: if you spoke to him seri-
ously, he ran off to the woods, and there he
lived until he stood in need of any thing, and
then came back to work for a short time; he
was a daring thief : flogging he did not mind
at all, but he could not endure to be told of his
faults. We were not a little annoyed, one
morning, to learn that C. had broken into
a gentleman’s wash-house, and stolen clothes to
a considerable amount. He was sent for, and
he rather exulted in the theft than otherwise;
when threatened, he produced some few articles,
but said coolly, he had sold the rest, and in no
way could they be found. He said, “ Massa,
you may go to massa- — — , and tell him hang
me if he like, for I no care one black dog,”
(a small copper coin ; the expression meaning
the same as when one says, in England, I don’t
care a farthing). He used to boast of this
transaction, and say that “ Massa — - — — one

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275

mean fellow, to go and tell my massa that I

tieve from him; if I no tieve one leetle bit,

/

what me get for sell?”

H. had a baby about two months old ;
she had nothing to do but to take care of it
(being a domestic); the child was not in the
estate nursery, as it would have been had the
mother been a field negro. This infant fell sick,
and the doctor attended it three times a day;
but as the mother was stout and well, we con»
sidered that a sick nurse was unnecessary
She did not wash or cook either for herself or
baby, but she always looked sulky when asked
to attend upon her child. The third evening
of little W’s illness, I went down with the
doctor to see him, but I was astonished to find
the poor baby crying and rolling about the
floor alone. I instantly called A., and asked
where H. was. “ Misses, I don’t know:”
every servant denied knowing anything of her,
until I sent for their master, when N. said
“ she saw H. go out some little time since
in full dress; she believed she must be for a

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dance/’ To pacify a poor sick baby of two
months old until two in the morning, I found
no easy task: at that hour the mother arrived,
astonished that massa and misses u should
make such a work about he child, for he 7d cry,
and when done he’d go sleep.”

I have seen Q. beat her child severely,
when not six months old, and pinch her ears
for crying, when she was teething. I have
frequently seen X., a coloured domestic, throw
broken bottles at her children, and they were
often severely cut by them. A — , with her
children Q — -, V — , Y — and P — , were all
domestics ; she used to beat them so dreadfully,
that every two or three days we used to be
startled by the cry of “ Oh ! massa, misses, me
mamma go murder me but any interference
on our part, was of little use, for A. was an
expert boxer, and was, as she herself said,
u match for any man.” If her children behaved
improperly, and she thought they were not
jpunished as they ought to be, she took the task
upon herself, and gave them a beating.

WEST INDIES.

277

I do not recollect, during my residence in
the West Indies, of ever seeing brother shew
kindness to brother, except Z. : he was a
coloured boy, a strange inconsistent character.

I wished him to be a tradesman, and to learn
to read and write, and become a clever man :
he was a creole of Dominica, and I felt the
greater interest in him, as he was the illegiti-
mate child of a Scotchman, who to his disgrace
had not manumitted his son. His father was
dead ; but Z. was perfectly aware who his
father was, and used to ask me about his
relations in Scotland with considerable interest;
yet this boy positively refused to learn to read,
and when I asked why, he said, “ Cause I no
want to larn.” He was kind to his little sick
half-brother O., and used to keep what he
liked best, and give it to him : when he caught
O. eating dirt, he used to whip him; but not
with so much cruelty as most negroes. Z.
had not a wish to better his situation, he was
perfectly happy; he was dull and plodding in
his appearance, but I do not mean depressed,

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for he was a cheerful boy. He used to be very
fond of talking to me when he was rubbing his
tables, and asking about Scotland. There were
some plates in the house which had houses
figured upon them, and he wished to know
if these were like Scotch houses : they did not
much resemble houses at home, but I took out
a volume containing views in Scotland. The
first I happened to open was that of Pennicuik
House: he looked all amazement, and said,
u Misses, that be far grander than even govern-
ment-house.” I told him government-house
would be considered at home neither as a large
nor handsome house. Then said he, “ Misses,
what like house have their governor ?” I told
him there was no governor: the king lived in
England, and governed both England and
Scotland, besides Ireland. “ Misses, that same
Ireland where the salt pork and Irish potatoes
come from?” “Yes.” “But misses, have
massa King George grander house than that?”
said he, still eying Pennicuik-House with
astonishment.

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WEST INDIES.

279

One day I beard this boy’s voice quarrelling :
he was not very easily roused, but when once
in a passion he was furious. I went to the
window, and I heard him say to his mother X.
“ me no curse you, me only say that it be your
blame me no free.” I called him up ; he was
pale with rage. I said, Z. what is the matter?
— he swore violently, and did indeed curse his
mother. I begged him to desist, and tell me
quietly what was the cause of all this ; he then
said, “ Misses, A. and all of dem (all the negro
servants) call me a mulatto devil ; it’s my
ma’ma’s fault that Pm mulatto devil; and if she
had behaved good, 1 ?d been free, as my brother
is,” (he had a free brother in Dominica).
His mother was certainly the most notoriously
bad character that can be imagined, and rarely
sober. I said, “ Z. do you wish you were free?”
“No, Misses, I no care about free; but I no
like niggers to hold impudence to me.” At
a time when almost every negro began to shew
great discontent, all my domestics went off one
night, excepting A. and this boy Z. ; they

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staid away two days, and Q. left a baby who
was suckling to be taken care of in the best
way we could. Z. behaved very well indeed ;
he cooked, made the market, &c. &c. It is
true that Z. immediately announced a great
rise in the markets, and it is unnecessary to
say that under such circumstances I was obliged
to pay whatever he demanded ; for although
I literally cleaned the house and made the
beds, yet he cooked and marketed, and became
of consequence to me. I asked Z. if he would
like to go to Scotland, — he said, “has my
fader any friends dey?” “Yes; would you
like to go there?” “Yes, if you’d take me,
and bring me back again.” “ Bring you back
again, why that is the last thing, I should
think you would wish ! you know if you went
to Scotland you’d be free?” “Yes, Misses,
I know that.” “Well, why would you wish
to come back?” “Misses, cause I no like to
live in Scotland, for they say Scotch folk vorck
hard too much.” “ And would you rather be
a slave here, than free in Scotland?” “Yes,
cause I can sit down here softly.”

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281

It appears to me unnecessary to enter farther
into detail, upon the subjects of honesty, truth,
gentleness, and affection. I could produce
abundance of anecdotes of the same kind, all
of which are gained from personal experience ;
and I should have even abridged those I have
given, had I not found that many publications
are perpetually quoted as good authority upon
negro character, when the author of them had
no slaves of his own, nor, consequently, any
of that kind of experience which elicit the
points of negro character.

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CHAPTER XL

Distinction of rank among negroes — Tenaciousness
on this point — Negro amusements— Parties and
balls— Opinions of free service in England.

It is not much known in Britain that slavery
admits of diversity of rank, but strange as it
may sound, there are abundance of nominal
ladies and gentlemen among slaves. Drivers
(that is, black overseers), head boilermen, head
coopers, carpenters or masons, head servants,
these are all Mr. so and so: a field negro, if
asked to go and tell a boilerman to come to
his master, returns and says — Massa, Mr. — — -
will be here directly. They say, “ Ma’am,” to
a domestic servant ; or if a servant be sent on

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283

a message from another family to you, your
servant tells you, “ there is a good lady wishes
to speak wid you,” Second boilermen, &c. &c.
are not quite gentlemen, but stand in a middle
rank, between the first, or gentlemen, and the
third, or common field negro and under do-
mestics, Upon an estate, a driver very often
has a servant allowed him,- — a young boy
perhaps, of fourteen or fifteen ; but on the
Saturday or Sunday, when they go to their
grounds, these head-people hire negroes, some-
times belonging to the eatate and sometimes
not, to work for them, while they work very
little themselves, and merely superintend.

There are many negroes who either partially
cultivate their grounds, or do not cultivate
them at all, and who live by hiring themselves
out during the time they have to themselves.
These are often paid in produce, at other times
in money. In Trinidad the daily hire is about
3s. 2d. per day; when paid in produce, they
get more, but then they have the trouble of
selling it again : I have bought provisions

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often from negroes, who I knew got them in
hire.

The punctilio observed by negroes towards
each other, is past the belief of those who never
witnessed it ; any omission of it, is sure to
procure a beating, I recollect B. one day
beating Y., a female servant, very severely :
I begged to know the nature of her offence, — .
it was simply this : she had left the gate open,
and B. asked her, “ if she had left the gate
open, to permit his chickens to walk about
town ;” when she answered “ No,” instead of
No sir; and for this he beat her. One morn-
ing A., a washerwoman came in, and she said,
“hy’dee sissy H ?” (how do you do sister,
which is a term for “ good woman ”), very
civilly to H. ; but she did not speak to B. :
he was of course all on fire; and going up to
her with his arms a-kimbo, he begged to know
“ what for she gie herself so much impudence
as say hy’dee to H., and no say good morning
to him V ’ ( good morning , he considered as
more dignified A. burst into a loud fit of

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285

laughter, and said, “ Eh ! eh ! you tink you go
cheat me as you do Massa and Misses, you tell
tory about a me on the estate, I would not
peak to the like o; you.” Hereupon B, hit
her a blow in the mouth, and A. fell down,
exclaiming she was dead. B. did strike her
severely, but he knew what he was about ; he
had never up to this time been punished, and
he calculated on this exemption. There was
no person near me, so it was impossible for me
to have done anything but remonstrate ; and
even this I had not courage to do with B., for
he was not a person to talk to. A. was bruised
considerably, but she went away quietly, and
never again omitted behaving with respect to
Mr. B. ! as he styled himself.

It is quite common for negro slaves to give
parties, and employ some one to write invita-
tions for them ; but the price of the party is
always put at the bottom of the note. These
invitations are expressed in the very same way
as if one lady wrote to another, and I shall here
faithfully copy one : — “ Mr. requests the

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honour of Mr. 's company to a dance and

supper on Tuesday evening, at nine o'clock. —
Three dollars." Some parties cost even more
than this, and some less, according to the en-
tertainment given. Drinking to excess is
hardly ever known ; and though our servants
often went to dances, I never knew any of them
return in the slightest degree intoxicated. X.
was the only servant I ever saw who habitually
drank to excess. B. I have seen twice a little
tipsy, but not so as to incapacitate him for his
work — he had just enough to make him un-
usually impudent ; however, he was at all times
very forward, and indeed negro men are most
disagreeably so.

Some of the negro holiday entertainments
are very grand indeed, and I have known a
master of a house give up his public rooms to
his negroes at Christmas to dance in. At that
season, it is hardly possible to keep the ser-
vants in the house at all : it is very proper,
indeed, that they should all have some time to
themselves during the holidays ; which last

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287

always three days ; but they all wish to be
away the whole time; which proves rather in-
convenient. Good Friday is not given as a
holiday universally to the slaves ; and although
very many negroes ask, and are not refused,
permission to go to chapel on that day, yet it is
not a legal custom for the slaves to have the
day — which I think an omission. There are
in St. Vincent, so many resident Scotch pro-
prietors, original Presbyterian families, in whose
church Good Friday is not held, that it is pro-
bable it does not occur to them ; but as they
all attend the Established Church of England,
and as the bulk of the Kingstown popu-
lation are Episcopalians, it seems inconsistent
that the slaves should work for their masters on
that day. The slaves, however, all keep Easter
as a time for buying new clothes; and though
I had not so many requests to cut out new
dresses as at Christmas, yet there were few
who did not make a point of wearing something
new. Many very good negroes come to town
from a considerable distance regularly, on the

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Sunday; they first sell their provisions, and
then go to church or chapel; but although
there is a gallery at church free of all expense
for their use, they prefer going to chapel; and
many of them have told me, that “ chapel was
far better than church/’ Negroes in town go
to chapel pretty regularly, and they may always
go of a morning if they choose; but where
Sunday dinners are given, domestics cannot go
of an evening : indeed, I preferred our people
going in the morning, for if they got out at
night, it was hardly possible to get them home
again.

After morning service at the chapel, the
country negroes eat cold fried jack-fish, and
drink mobee, grog, or some other beverage
with their friends, in the market place under a
tree, and soon after, the well disposed people
may be seen trudging home again, with their
empty trays and baskets. Mobee is a drink
prepared with sugar, ginger, and snakeroot ;
as a bitter it is fermented, and is a wholesome
cooling beverage.

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289

All well-disposed negroes are clean and neat
on a Sunday ; and it will not be found that
those negroes who attend church or chapel
regularly, are poorer, or their grounds in worse
order, than those who do not go to service: the
reverse indeed is the case, for I have uniformly
seen that such negroes were well dressed, and
their grounds in order, nor had they any want
of money, — a plain proof that they are not
denied abundance of time to cultivate the soil.

I recollect B. once quarrelling desperately
with his wife K. : he was rather indisposed, and
he told her to stay at home, and make soup for
him ; she refused, saying “ it was Sabbath/’
and she would not sin so much as not to go to
church ; and she actually made good her point,
and went. I told B. he was very silly to
quarrel with his wife about such a thing, for
he knew very well his soup would be made for
him, whether his wife did so or not; when K.
returned, he got out of bed, and whipped her
for her disobedience. Now this woman was not
then in communion with the Methodists, but

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she sat there regularly, and considered herself a
very good Christian indeed ; yet she was not
really a correct woman upon the most common
points of morality, and did not care to break
the fourth commandment in a variety of other
ways ; but she attached an undue importance
to going to chapel, and I am convinced that
this woman, from what she said to me, would
have felt a superstitious dread, under any cir-
cumstances, had she ventured to stay away.

Sunday dances in Kingstown are not now
common, but in the country they frequently
occur. I had no idea that there would have
been any difficulty in putting a stop to Sunday
traffic and dances, until I became a resident
upon an estate ; and then I saw that with few
exceptions the bare mention of such a thing
produced discontent. In fact, no attempt at
sudden changes can do good ; whatever is pro-
ductive of discontent to the negro, must be
productive of alarm to the white population,
and must operate as a preventive to the grand
end that ought to be kept in view, — the mental

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291

improvement of the negro population, until the
time when the labourer of the West Indies shall
be fitted to enjoy without one shackle, all the
privileges of a British peasant. It is true
indeed at this moment, that the free negro is
more wicked, more deceitful, and more insolent
than the slave : but this negro has been freed,
without having acquired either the moral or
religious habits of a civilized being ; he has
been born, probably brought up, in the con-
tagious atmosphere of slavery ; — nor am I afraid
to assert, that any emancipation of slaves with-
out some preparatory course, would disappoint
the expectations of the most sanguine ; for
though legally free, their minds would remain
under the slavish yoke of ignorance ; and society,
I am persuaded, must undergo a thorough
change, before a free working population will
be found in the West Indies under British
laws. I do not advert to what might be done
by despotism: — all despotism is slavery, — and
the nominal free labour of St. Domingo affords
no data for opinion.

YOL. i.

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But, to return to the character and habits of
negroes. — The amusements of the native African
are much of the same kind as those of the
creole negro ; but they dance their own African
dances to the drum, while the creole negroes
consider a fiddle genteeler ; though of an even-
ing among themselves they will sing, dance,
and beat the drum, yet they would not produce
this instrument at a grand party. Fiddles and
tamborines, with triangles, are essential there.

I recollect obtaining the following informa-
tion from B. as to one of those dances. “ How
many had you at the dance?” “ More than
two hundred/’ “ What did they dance?”
“ Quadrilles and waltzes.” “ Did you not
dance the English country dance ?” “ No, they
no fashion now-a-day.” “ Had you any re-
freshment during dancing ?” “Yes.” “What
had you?” “ Tea and coffee, and wane of dif-
ferent kinds, sangaree, lemonade, and porter;”
he also informed me they had an excellent
supper. Such entertainments are quite com-
mon, and negroes enjoy themselves very much

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293

at such times. Indeed, they will dance at any
hour of the day : I recollect when our estates5
people finished crop, a great band of them, in
gay clothes, came to town to see us, preceded
by the estates’ fiddler, whose hat was trimmed
up with ribbons : they had paid for getting
these decorations themselves, because they said
u they wished to surprise me, cause they knowed
I had never seen the like afore/’ The house
servants all went into the largest negro house
and began to dance, although this was just the
hottest time of the day : they danced with the
greatest agility, not appearing at all incon-
venienced by the heat : their dresses were really
ludicrous,- — one woman had her own Christian
name and her master’s surname marked in large
letters in front of her dress ; and she told me
she paid half a dollar for getting it done.
Having got wherewithal to make merry upon
they left us in about an hour, as jovial a party
as could well be.

Negroes formerly used to be inclined, I was
told, to rioting and fighting upon Christmas-

o 2

294

WEST INDIES,

day, but now they all go to church ; even those
who do not go at any other time, make a point
of attending then. Many still dance upon
Christmas night, but the greater proportion
would not do so— but dance on the other two
holidays I have named. Many of the white
population informed me that Christmas holidays
used formerly to be looked forward to with
dread, but now there was a happy improvement
indeed ; and they said that unless I had lived
in St. Vincent ten or twenty years back, I
could hardly conceive the amazing change that
had taken place. A gentleman who had left
the colony in 1814, and returned about ten
years after, told me that he saw a very great
and evident advancement of civilization among
the negroes. I do not state these circumstances
to lessen one prudent exertion for the religious
instruction and civilization of the negro, but to
shew that the proprietors have not left all
undone ; and had the planters been better off
for the means of spiritual instruction themselves,
they would probably have been more alive to

WEST INDIES.

295

the wants of their dependents in this respect*
It is certain that negroes, in their present state of
civilization , do not envy the free labourer of
England* I speak of those who have been in
England, and who have had opportunities of
making comparisons : 1 recollect C., a domestic,
going to England with his master; who asked
him how he liked England, after he had been
sometime in the country, and he answered,
“ That England very fine country to be sure,
but nothing to be had there without money ;
people there very mean, they’d sell anything, —
they sell sand, massa: if I had all the sand
in Rabaca river, I could soon make rich here !
Now would you believe it massa, they so mean
they sell the very black soot out of the chim-
neys.” I have myself conversed with this
negro ; he is a shrewd, intelligent, clever ser-
vant, knows both England and Ireland well ;
but, like many others I know, prefers the West
Indies and slavery, to Britain and freedom.
The last time this man left Britain, he came out
without his master, and he was perfectly free to

296

WEST INDIES.

have staid in Britain, had he had any inclina-
tion so to do ; but the reverse was his choice, —
he landed in St. Vincent, and came to see us, as
cheerful as man could be. Now I am far from
meaning to advance such opinions of negroes,
as an argument in favour of the state of slavery.
This man would, probably, with a different
education, have thought differently : still there
is proof afforded, by opinions and actions like
this, of the exaggerated statements made re-
specting the intolerable cruelty and oppression
of the planters. Were such statements cor-
rect, freedom under any circumstances would
by all be preferred to slavery. There is one
peculiar trait in the character of negroes, which
I must not omit to notice, and which appears
to be very inconsistent with the other features
of their character. It is, that there is not any
circumstance which provokes a negro so much
as saying, or hinting any thing disrespectful,
with regard to his mother. However trifling
the remark may be, the negro becomes instantly
enraged, and nothing can induce him to forgive

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297

those who so offend; it is an irremediable
breach between the parties ; and all the friends
and relations take up the quarrel. I have seen
many instances of the fury with which a negro
instantly assails any one who offends in this
way.

The negro cares little for his father; but
many are at a loss upon this subject, for there
are not a few females who are sufficiently
cunning to obtain presents for their child from
two or more men, whom they separately claim
as the fathers of their children. I recollect V.,
who had two regular husbands, one in town
and the other in the country ; she had been
confined of a daughter about ten days, when her
grandmother exhibited to me the presents of
the papa to his little girl, which consisted of
two nice white frocks ; but V. was determined
to have something from both husbands; and
when the country husband came to see her, she
cursed him, “ cause he had never had once
had a thought of his pic-a-ninny he retorted,
and she scolded in return ; her mother and

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sisters flew upon him* boxed him, and turned
him out of the yard. Many negro men, of
good character otherwise, have two or more
wives ; and strange to tell, these wives live on
good terms with each other; they often make
friendly visits to each other; but there is
always one favourite for the time being, and it
often happens that this same wife has been the
favourite for fifteen or twenty years. There is
no jealousy on her part, « so long as matters are
openly conducted ; but all intrigues are disliked,
and are a frequent cause of quarrels.

From what I have said above, it will be
gathered that negro females also often have
several husbands: but they have always one in
particular, with whom they live. The really
respectable female negro, however, has gene-
rally only one husband; and in this one par-
ticular only, is the respectable female negro
more moral than the male.

WEST INDIES.

299

CHAPTER XII.

Conversations with native Africans .

The subject of the present short chapter, 1
consider an interesting one, —the detail of con-
versations, which I had with native Africans.
I give their testimony precisely as I received it
from them ; and in what follows, I beg my
readers to keep in view, that I only pledge
myself to relate faithfully what was told to me
by the negroes themselves. It is impossible
for me to vouch for the truth of details coming
from a set of people who, as a people, have
so little regard for truth. The only way is, to
compare the different accounts of negroes of
the same national origin ; and whenever they
do not materially disagree, it is probable that

o 3

300

WEST INDIES.

something approaching the truth has been de-
scribed. I shall also mention the character of
the individual as I go along, which ought
always to be kept in view7.

The details which I present are far from
being meant as conveying any apology for the
slave-trade, as it existed before the abolition ;

indeed I never heard the slave-trade men-

•

tioned with half the horror in Britain that I
have heard it spoken of in the West Indies.0
and never let it be forgotten that Britain began
the slave-trade,-— not the colonists ; and it is a
fact which admits of no denial, that the British
government forced the colonists to cultivate the
islands by the labour of negro slaves imported
from Africa ; nay, it is a fact that the colonists
of Barbadoes were decidedly averse to this ;
but the mother country insisted upon com-
pliance.

In Trinidad, government refused to grant
land to settlers (who w7ere not, as they resolved,
qualified to receive it), unless they would pro-
duce a certain number of slaves according to

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301

the proportion of acres they wished to cultivate;
and so particular was the government upon this
point, that if the slaves died, and their numbers
were not kept up by increase or purchase, the
land and the slaves upon it were forfeited to
the crown. This X merely mention, to shew
that the first and criminal part of the whole
transaction rested upon the government alone,
and not upon the colonists : a fact also that is
too frequently kept in the back ground. Of all
national iniquities, none surely ever exceeded
the slave-trade ; but still X feel convinced, from
the consistent details of many native Africans,
examined at different times and even in dif-
ferent colonies, that the situation of those who
were removed to the West Indies, was very
greatly improved in every respect.

This fact— if it be a fact— is no apology for
so sinful a traffic. My desire is, only to state
truths; and truth ought to be stated, whatever
may be the consequences to which it leads.

F. was a native African, an Ebo negro, of
uncommonly good character, but not at all

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clever ;■ — a common field negro.,— she had been
many years ago offered her freedom as a reward
for her faithful services, but declined it, saying
she preferred remaining as she was ; she worked
for some time after this upon the estate, as a
nurse, but at the period I speak of, she ceased
to be able to do anything : at an early period of
her life she had suffered severely from rheuma-
tism, and her joints were much distorted from
it ; she was also much bent down from old age,
and latterly it became difficult to make her
contented or happy. She was in many respects
savage ; and at times insisted upon lying on
the floor without any clothes ; neither was she
willing to have her head tied with a handker-
chief, and her naturally black woolly hair had
become white from age. She would rarely use
a spoon for her calialou soup, which with a
little boiled rice was all she relished ; and for
drink, she liked weak rum and water : her
appearance was anything but pleasing, it was
at times almost disgusting ; but she despised
and refused all the comforts of civilized life;

WEST INDIES.

303

and a stranger to have seen her, as I daily did,
lying on her mattress on the floor, using her
hand for a spoon to her soup, and hardly a rag
upon her, might naturally have exclaimed,
“ Look at the brutality of this poor negro's
owner !” But had he been conversant with
native Africans, he would have perhaps felt as
we did, all the desire to render her comfortable
according to our interpretation of the word, but
he would no doubt also have experienced the
utter impossibility of convincing her that clean-
liness, a few clothes, and eating her victuals
like a civilized being, were real comforts. She
used to say to me, when I spoke to her of such
things, u No tease me, misses, me one very
good nigger ; let me be” u Let me be," is a
frequent expression among negroes, and they
have probably learnt this and other decided
Scotticisms from the number of Scotch ma-
nagers and overseers.

One day I asked F., u how big were you
when you left Africa?" “ Misses, me big
young woman." “ How were you taken ?”

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“ M isses, Ebo go war wid a great grandee
massa ; him massa take Ebo many, many ; tie
hand, tie foot, no could run away, misses : they
gie us only so leetle for yam (as she said this,
she took up a splinter of wood, and held it to
signify that the food she got was as insignifi-
cant in point of size). Well, misses, they take
me mamma too ; she be one nice nigger, fat
so ; they take her, kill her, boil her, fry her,
yam her (eat her) every bit all : dey bringed
her heart to me, and force me yam a piece of
it. Well, misses, after dat dey sell me to
another grandee for cottons, and he send me a
Guinea coast ; and when I corned there, the
first buckra I seed, misses, I started all.”
“ Were you afraid of the white man?” “ No,
misses, no of he, but of he colour; look so
queer, misses, I axe ye pardon.” u Did you
know you were going to be sold to a white
man?” “ Yes, misses, me happy at dat;
nigger massa bad too much, white massa him
better far, Africa no good place, me glad
too much to come a white man’s country.”

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305

“ Well, what did you do when you were
landed ?” “ Old massa buy me, old misses

very good ; she make nice bamboo for me
(clothing), teaciied me ’bout God,” said she,
“get me christened; me quite happy; me (said
she with much exultation) never once punished.
Old massa love me, old misses love me, me
loved dem ; me get good husband ; me never
have sore heart but once, when my H, (her
only child) go dead. Misses, oh, she hand-
some too much : take pain in side, dey do all
for her, but God say no ; and so she go dead,
and so me just take young II — , (a young negro
woman, upon the estate, of the same name as
her own daughter) ; she have no daddy or
mamma, and me take her for my own, being
as I was her god-mamma.” The principal
enjoyment of this poor woman was in telling
old stories to the family ; but the servants were
very harsh to her, and I frequently caught the
little negroes under a sand-box tree, pelting her
while she lay at the open house door, with hard
green mangoes, which they gathered for the
purpose.

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WEST INDIES.

I. was a Guinea-coast female negro, of only
tolerable character, a common field negro. I
asked her when she was brought from Africa ?
“ When me big woman.” Were your father
and mother alive when you left it? “ No,
misses, but I had husband and one pic-a-ninny.”
And were you not very much grieved when you
found yourself away from them ? “ Misses,

me husband bad too much : beat me one day,
two day, tree day, every day. Misses, me
husband here go beat me too much (meaning if,
or when he beat me too much), or when me no
really bad, me go a manager, or come a massa,
to complaint, and he settle all. Misses, me
have one pic-a-ninny in a Guinea ; but me
have D — , I — , K — , L — , M — , N— - , and J — ,
here; cooper, O— - for husband ; he bring me
some tick (fuel) often. L. big now— -help vorck
a provision-ground ; little M. she take broom,
sweep a house ; N. he little too much, but me
get fish and bamboo for him. Oh, misses, is
Africa good country ? No good people say dat
surely.”

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307

P. , a female field negro, a good character

upon the whole, and willing to work ; left
Africa when not quite grown up, but evidently
recollected it perfectly. (i Would you like to
go back to your country ?” “ Eh, misses, me

no like dat. St. Vincent fine country — good
white massa dey.” — “ Were you slave or free in
Africa ?” “ Misses, me one time slave, one

time free, just as our grandee massa fight (beat)
next grandee massa.” “ And you would rather
be here ? ” u Yes, misses, I no like me country
at all.”

Q. , a female field negro, of the very best
character, an excellent field labourer ; cheerful,
contented, and intelligent, and I can say, affec-
tionate ; in manner a perfect savage, yet not
rude ; for although she never spoke to us with-
out first turning her back, and bursting into a
loud fit of laughter, yet she meant no insult by
it. Whenever Q. had any request to make to
me — and her requests were very numerous — in
the dress-making line, she used to come to the
door, and turning her back, and laughing as I

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WEST INDIES.

have described, she stood still, and half turned
her head round with a sly smile, until I used to
say, “Well, Q., what do you want?” Then
it was always, “ Misses, me just buyed one
handkerchief for me, wall ye mark me name for
me ? ” or it might be a gown or petticoat, &c.
At first Q. was very shy of speaking, but her
request once granted, she would turn round
and talk with great spirit. Her house was neat
and well furnished, according to her ideas of
comfort, and she and her husband rarely quar-
relled ; she could fight when she thought it
necessary, just to shew that she was no
coward, but she was not given to boxing ; and
was, and I hope is, in every sense of the word,
a good negro.

“ What nation are you of, Q. ? ” “An Ebo.”
“ Would you like to go to Africa ? ” “ Misses,
me hope never to see dat country no more ;
misses, me hear tell dat some white massas go
a England, and tell dat nigger wish for go again
to Africa, and say dat nigger tink dey go to
Africa when dey go dead.” “ Is this not true,

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309

Q. ? ” “ Misses, me never hear one nigger say

so, me no tink dat ; me know very well, God
make me above, God make one breath, put one
breath in an (all of us) ; God make us live, God
take away breath, we go dead ; misses, me
notion is, dis breath and life all as one.”-—
Meaning that without breath we cannot live.
“ How old were you when you left Africa ? ”
“ Me big the same as now.” “Were you free
or slave there ? ” “ Misses, me born free.

Ebo war with anoder grandee massa— -take me,
me daddy, me mamma, me husband ; sell
me, dem, keep me slave to dat grandee massa,
no slave to himsel, but to one of him country :
me slave to one nigger, massa ; he flog me,
curse me, use me very bad, me heart-broke ; he
want calicoes, take me a coast, sell me for
calicoes; me dance for joy to get away from
nigger massas.” “ And you are now happier
than you ever were in Africa? ” “Yes, misses,
Africa one bad country.”

R. was a female field negro, rather advanced
in life : although only a field negro, she was

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very much civilized, extremely polite, kind,
affectionate, but cunning occasionally ; decently
attired at all times, extremely gay on holidays,
and at church. She was a good work-woman,
and her provision grounds were in fine order;
she called herself a Roman catholic, but went
to the Methodist chapel almost every Sunday.
She was always much respected by the other
negroes, as well as by her master and mistress.
She had evidently confused notions of Maho-
medanism, but says, “ she never hear tell of
Mahomet, but knowed there was one good
man who came far off from where the sun rise,
he tell all people be good/’ R. had one great
fault, not generally to be found in a female
negro of otherwise so exemplary good cha-
racter : she was fond of having a number of
husbands, and of changing them often ; I have
known her have three different husbands in six
weeks. “ What country were you of, R. V’
“ Misses, me a Mandingo.” Did you like
your country ? “ Misses, suppose Mandingo

be my own country, me no like it.” What

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311

were you there ? “ Me be waiting maid to a

grandee massa’s lady ; she have fine clothes,

necklace, bracelet, rings. Oh ! misses, you ’d

really like to seen her going to church to pray.”

Was she kind to you? ,“ Misses, she flog me

too much ; pinch me ; if me no dress her pretty,

she box me ear for me ; she handsome too

much, clear black kin, so mooth.” What did

you get to eat ? “ For yam (eatables) misses,

me got rice, one leetle river fish — and misses,

now and den, when she very good, gie me ripe

plantain, and banana.” Which country do

you like best ? “ Misses, Buckra country very

good, plenty for yam (to eat), plenty for bamboo

(for clothing) ; Buckra-man book larn (can read)

now misses, Buckra-man rise early, — like a

-cold morning; nigger no like cold.” And I

suppose then you ’d like to lie in bed in the

morning? “Yes, misses, till sun hot, den go

vorck ; cold, no good to nigger kin (skin) ; but

♦

misses, me like to go see a cold of England.”
Would you? and you know, I added, that if
you were in England you would be free. “Yes,

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misses, me know that perfect, but me no like to
top dey, only see a place, and see many a many
white face, and den back to St. Vincent;—
misses, is true, no plantain or banana in a
England?” Yes, quite true; but there are
other fruits that I think as good. “ Eh, eh,
misses, noting so good as plantain and banana.”

S. was a second boiler-man, middle aged,
with an uncommonly cheerful, frank counte-
nance, good looking, extremely agreeable in
his appearance ; a negro of the very best
possible character, and very intelligent and
affectionate ; diligent in his duties, attentive
both to his master and to his family ; and had
only one wife, with whom he had lived in great
comfort. He was fond of his children, loved
them apparently alike ; was kind to his wife,
gave her nice dresses, and both of them were
civil in their deportment as negroes; no one
ever merited the title of a good negro more
than S., and the longer I knew him, — indeed
up to the moment that I bade him adieu, — I
had more and more reason to respect him.

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313

“ S. what country did you come from?”
“ Ebo, misses.” Do you remember Ebo ? “ Eh,
misses, vay well indeed.” Do you like it
better than this ? i( Misses, me like Ebo well
enough den, but me go dead if me go dey
now.” How so? “ Misses, noting good a
yam (to eat) in Ebo like a here, no salt pork
dey, no salt beef, — people dey just go fish in a
river, boil a leetle fish, boil a leetle rice, so go
yam it,” (then eat it). But you had yams
there ? u Misses, only the grandee.” And
you were not a grandee? a No, misses, me
free, no slave, but me one poor man dey ; me
vorck, every day, else eat none.” Whether
would you prefer being free in Ebo, or a slave
here ? u Misses, Africa no good people, no
trust in dem ; one slave to-day, you free
to-morrow; free to-day, slave to-morrow: your
grandee massa make war wid toder massa,
(king in their sense of the word), take ye, never
mind how great ye be ; ye never know how to
do vorck, he flog ye; if ye no do a ting, he
whip again : noting to yam, but leetle rice.

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Misses, a me glad too much, when me sent a
coast o’ Guinea for a Buckra to buy us.”

V. was a common field negro, a quiet but
not an intelligent negro, apparently attached to
his master, worked well for him, and had his
own grounds in very good order; he was not
given to fighting; — had many comforts in his
house, such as tables, chairs, good bedstead,
and crockery-ware, and was always neat and
tidy on holidays and Sundays. V. was never
in disgrace, and merited the title of a good
negro.

What nation are you of V. ? “ An Ebo.”

Would you like if massa were to free you, and
send you to your own country again? “Eh,
eh, misses, me no like dat ; me country wicked
too much.” They don’t eat men in Ebo, do
they? “ No, misses, dey no eat men; but raw
beast-flesh warm be very nice, me tink dat good
yet; S. can tell ye same tory, misses: Ebo eat
no men ; when Ebo take people in a war from a
grandee massa, Ebo no eat ’em : Ebo sell ’em
a Guinea coast; — but when Coromantee take a

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315

people when they go war with grandee massa,
da Coromantee eat all of dem,” How do they
eat ’em ? “ Misses, me no seed dem eat ’em,

but me heared in Ebo ’bout it ; and old granny
F. tell a me ’bout it, when she take by the
Coromantees. Dey cook a men in dat place.
Misses, Africa wicked too much, me rather go
dead afore me go back dey.” Were you slave
there or free ? “ Me free man one day, slave

to’ther day; no good people dey, cheat too
much.” How old were you when you left
Africa ? “ Me one big man.”

W. was a carpenter; good tempered, not
intelligent, but very indolent. {t What nation
are you of? ” “ Mandingo.” How old were

you when you came to the West Indies ? “ One
big man.” Do you like St. Vincent, or Africa
best? u Eh, eh, misses, me no one fool, me
know better dan dat ; Africa one very bad
country, dey go vorck poor slave to death;
noting for yam, only whip, whip constant ; me
like where me be.’ And were you slave or
free in Africa ? u Me one free man, dey take
yol. i. P

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me, carry me in a coast of Guinea, sell me a
Buckra capin, me very glad to go wid dem.”
u But, had you no friends you were sorry to
leave in Africa V' u Misses, friend to-day, no
friend to-morrow; no trust in dey ; your daddy
want any ting or your mamma, dey go sell de
pic-a-ninny, to buy it.”

X. was a faithful working negro, kept his
own grounds in high order; was fond of money
to hoard it up : he went about in good weather,
with hardlv a rag to cover him. X. had a
good deal of dry humour ; he had a very curious
and rather savage countenance, and he bore his
country's mark upon his chest and also upon his
cheeks. He was excessively avaricious, and
acted invariably on the principle of trusting no
one; he reared poultry very successfully. I
believe he was attached to us, yet if I could not
produce the exact change to pay him for his
fowls, he refused to let me have them, and he
was the only negro I ever met with who shewed
the slightest want of confidence in this respect
towards me. X. made a great deal of money,
but what he did with it none could tell. On

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317

Sundays, however, he was an amazing dandy,
and had his collar so stiff, that he would not
have turned his head for the world, lest he
should disarrange it. X. never had any settled
wife; he tried to get one several times, but
they always left him, as they said, “ Cause he
so miserly, misses ; he plit (split) one black dog
if he could,” a coin, value one-sixth of four-pence.

“ How old were you when you came to St.
Vincent ? ” “ One big man, so big me be now.”
“ What nation were you of?” “The Man-
dingo.” “Were you free or slave ? ” “ Misses,
me be one very great grandee ; not one grandee
massa, but one great grandee ; me hae slave to
wash me, me hae yams for eat, fresh pork ; me
hae no vorck for do, only me go fire at bird in
a bush, for yam : well, misses, one grandee
massa send always hunting for people ; so dey
take me in a bush, make me vorck hard,— -me
never vorck afore, me no know’d how to vorck ;
dey flog me, say me no good for noting, send
me a Guinea coast, sell me Buckra capin.”
“ But surely you would like to go back to

p 2

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WEST INDIES.

Mandingo?” u No, misses, Mandingo one
very bad country ; me no have vorck too much
now, me hae yam, tanias, plantains, every ting
very good.”

Y. was a field negro, an uncommon character.
He was employed when a young man in a pas-
ture in the upper part of the estate, at some
distance from the dwelling-house : he neglected
the stock, allowing them to trespass upon the
canes in every direction ; and there was no
possibility of holding any communication with
him,- — for whenever he saw any white person
coming near where he was, he ran like a deer,
hid himself in the brush- wood, and defied all
pursuit. The pasture he was upon commanded
so extensive a prospect, that he had full view
of any one who came in that direction. If he
saw a human being approach, he made off to
one of his hiding places, which was generally
on the top of the highest and thickest tree,
where he formed a complete bed or hammock of
the wild canes, which grow there so luxuriantly.
In the course of his sojourning there, he killed

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319

four young cattle, besides sundry calves, sheep,
and lambs ; he skinned, cleaned, and half
roasted them, and then covered them over with
leaves, for his sustenance. This conduct lasted
for two years and a half, when at last he was
brought down ; he was not punished, but his
duty changed ; and from that moment, except
occasional intoxication, he behaved uncom-
monly well. Y., from the period I knew him,
was a very quiet good negro ; he seldom smiled,
but was nevertheless very contented ; he was
uncommonly handsome, and reckoned a first-
rate dancer, both of creole and African dances :
it was indeed surprising to witness the grace,
gravity, and majesty of his demeanour. He
was not very intelligent, but a good workman,
and kept his grounds in beautiful order • he
was not uncivil, but his manners were rather
forbidding.

Y., do you recollect your own country?
“ Not very much, but me member the ship/"
Were you free or slave in your own country ?
“ Me no know.” Would you like to return to

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WEST INDIES.

Africa? “ No, misses, every nigger tell me,
me country one very bad place ; me no wish to
leave dis country/7 If you were free would
you not like to see Africa again ? “ No,

misses, 1 7d like to see England, and den come
a St. Vincent; me like to see English cold.”

Such are some of the details I received from
native Africans. Of their title to credit, let the
reader judge. The condition of the Mandingo,
or Ebo negro, in his own country, however
wretched that condition may be, can be no
apology for negro traffic ; neither is the con-
tentedness of the African with his condition in
the West Indies, any argument against emanci-
pation ; but these details and avowals un-
doubtedly afford the consolation of knowing
that the negro has not been made more miserable
by the unnatural traffic that deprived him of
his home ; and some proof, also, that the
inhuman conduct of slave proprietors has been
exaggerated.

Negroes have often a strong desire to see
England ; and when you ask them what it is

WEST INDIES.

32!

they particularly wish to see, it is either the
cold of England, or the number of white faces.

A gentleman in St. Vincent once sent me a
lump of ice from North America, wrapped in
straw. I instantly sent for our domestics, and
said to them, “ There is ice,— do you know
what that is ? u Yes, misses, English water.5'
They got a hammer, and broke off some pieces,
putting it in their mouths when they screamed
out, and jumped from mere astonishment; and
after having ejected it, they all begged for
some rum to cure the cold of the English
water.

Generally speaking, negroes do not regard
England and Scotland in the same light : this I
believe proceeds from two causes. Scotchmen
are proverbially active and economical, abroad
as well as at home : and perhaps there are not
two qualities which the majority of negroes
dislike more thoroughly. I recollect a ship
arriving one afternoon in Kingstown bay, when
we sent B. to inquire if there were any passen-
gers, and who they were,— he returned saying,

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WEST INDIES.

there was no one except one Buckra man.
“ And who is he ?” u Me no know7, me no tink
it worth while to ask he name ; he one Cotch
man.” And why is it not worth while to ask a
Scotchman’s name? “ ’Cause they all mean,
hold-purse fellows ; dey go so,” said he, walk-
ing some paces, holding down his head, and
with a slouching gait, i( Dey go mean, me no
like dem.” Yet B. was addressing himself
to his master and mistress, both Scotch ; a
tolerably good proof, that negro domestics
speak with little restraint what they really
think. The mere active habits of the Scotch-
man are also disagreeable to the negro. With
few exceptions, exemption from all employment
is the ne plus ultra of a negro’s idea of
enjoyment.

D., one of our negroes, used to say, that
monkeys could speak well enough if they
liked, but <f dey cunning too much, for dey
knowed if dey speak, massa would soon make
em vorck,”

WEST INDIES.

32

CHAPTER XIL

The master and slave — Punishment — Alleged

over-working .

Much has been written, and still more said,
respecting the inhumanity of planters in the
treatment of their slaves. I do not speak of
this treatment previous to the time I lived in
the West Indies; for matters for many years
before that period even, were not managed as
it is generally believed, I shall not attempt to
describe any thing as fact to which I have not
been an eye witness.

In the commencement of this work I spoke
shortly of the calumnies that had been circu-
lated respecting the general character and mode

p 3

324

WEST INDIES.

of life of the colonists; but far more injurious
and unjust than these, have been the calumnies
propagated respecting their treatment of the
negro. It is impossible to conceive, that a
denial of the truth of those statements which
I have called calumnies, and facts offered in
support of that denial, can be objected to by
the most determined vilifier of the planters. It
is equally a right and a duty to defend a class
which has been aspersed, and to which I myself
belonged. I am not, in doing this, defending
the principle of slavery, or even arguing in
favour of continuing in the hand of the colonial
masters, powers which may possibly have been,
and may be again abused.

The first remark I would make is, that
coming out as I did, almost determined to find
fault (and which most disinterested Britons
do), my first impressions were by no means
favourable in respect to the general style of
language adopted towards domestics. It ap-
peared to me haughty and peremptory; and
more particularly, I thought, from creoles than

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325

from Europeans, to their negroes and servants.
But I had to learn, by sad experience, that
in the present state of negro civilization, to
treat negroes as we treat English servants, is a
rule liable to many exceptions.

I think the details already given respecting
negro character and negro habits, will have
partly prepared the reader for this admission.
It is undoubtedly true, that in the majority
of cases servants are spoken to in a more
decided tone, and reprimanded with more seve»
rity, than English servants would submit to ;
but where it is found that a servant will do
nothing unless he is spoken to in this manner,
and that he respects you more, and actually
seems better pleased when addressed so, 1
should suppose there are few persons who, if
put to the trial, would not adopt the usual
method of address.

I am acquainted with some individuals in
the colonies, whom I highly respect, whose
constitutional mildness and forbearance are such,
that they cannot speak to their servants, upon

326

WEST INDIES.

any occasion, whatever their faults may be,
otherwise than with that amiable gentleness
which one would think could not fail to win
even the most obdurate. But I have been
witness in the establishments of those indi-
viduals how lamentably wicked, how negligent,
how particularly insolent, those servants were ;
and upon more than one estate, where this
management was also pursued, the result was
precisely the same. I have conversed with
many upon this subject; and I never met with
one who did not bitterly regret being obliged to
speak so peremptorily to their servants, and
considered it as one of the most disagreeable of
duties. But this is a trifling matter, compara-
tively with the stories which have been circulated
respecting negro punishment, — inflicted, too,
as it is alleged, from mere whim and caprice.

It is a delicate matter upon which I am
about to treat; but I will not shrink from
stating facts. The truth is, that there are few
negro servants who have not at one time or
other been whipped, though rarely after man-

WEST INDIES.

327

hood ; that is, whipped with a switch, or, if for
a very flagrant offence, perhaps with a horse-
whip.

Such punishments do take place on almost
all estates, though not frequently, and as I sin-
cerely believe, never for faults which would not
in England subject the offender to punishment
of a far more serious nature. Now, without
going farther, I would ask, in what does the
young negro differ from the apprentice, the
school boy, or any young person in England ?
Are not thieving apprentices flogged,— and dis-
obedient children, and idle school boys, and all,
at the will, or caprice, it may be, of those who
have authority over them ? Or in what par-
ticular does the grown-up negro, who perjures
himself or commits other gross offences, differ
from the man who, for similar crimes, is sen-
tenced by a magistrate to be whipped? If
there be the same criminality, the punishment
must be equally just. Does the proprietor of a
negro not feel for his fellow creatures, upon
such occasions ? — some say, he cannot feel, he

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WEST INDIES.

cannot be humane, if he punishes his negro.
This, I need scarcely say, is miserable argu-
ment. Does the tender and affectionate, but
conscientious parent, feel nothing for his child
when he punishes it for the commission of a
fault? Does the foreman of a jury not feel when
he delivers his verdict of guilty? And will
any one deny to a judge a kindly feeling — all
sentiment of sympathy and pity, because he at
times pronounces sentence of death upon the
guilty criminal ?

Suppose a negro steals provisions from his
neighbour’s grounds, though not at first to
a great extent; he is pardoned, but the master
remunerates the other. The offence is com-
mitted a second time, and another pardon fol-
lows to the thief, and remuneration again must
be made to the other slave, who, unless that
were done, would beat the aggressor with the
utmost cruelty. Is it not apparent in such
cases, that some punishment is necessary ? Now
the question has hitherto been, what punish-
ment? I admit the cruelty of all corporal

WEST INDIES.

329

punishment; but we find the British legislature
sanctioning the infliction of murderous punish-
ment in the army and navy ; and why ? because
it is contended, the state of discipline required
in the army, renders it necessary : and is it not
certain, that a system of discipline is necessary
in a colony where the negro population out-
number the free, twenty fold ? Government,
which settled the colonies, and sanctioned slave
labour, no doubt perceived this; and in grant-
ing the power of inflicting a corporal punish-
ment to one-eighth part of the extent of that
sanctioned in the army, conceived it necessary
in the then state of West India society. It is
a power, which may be abused ; and which
therefore ought not to be continued one hour
beyond the time that necessity renders it im-
perative ; but I do not hesitate to say, that
occasions do arise, when that necessity is far
more apparent than it ever is in the army,
whether we look to the difference between
negro and European character, or the danger
of weakening the authority of the free, over the

330

WEST INDIES.

negro population ; and I contend, that the
slave proprietor, yielding to this necessity, does
not prove that he is destitute of feeling,-— for I
have minutely examined the subject, and I
never yet found in any one instance of corporal
punishment, that the master had not been
driven to it by a repetition of such conduct, to
which no one, as a master, could submit.

It is true, that hitherto every proprietor of
a negro has considered slavery to consist in his
having power over his slave, in so far as to
punish him to the amount of thirty-nine lashes.
Now the point we have to attend to is, whether
such punishments do ever take place to that
amount ; and if they do, what are the occasions
upon which such punishments are inflicted ?—
have masters been actuated by caprice and
whim ?— and have they justly earned the cha-
racter of inhumanity ? Every thing I have
seen leads me to state conscientiously, that the
punishment of thirty-nine lashes seldom takes
place ; and certainly never for an offence that
would not be followed, in Scotland, by trans-

WEST INDIES.

331

portation for life, and in England most likely
by capital punishment. When punishment is
considered necessary, I have too often witnessed
the distress of a master ; and have known
myself what it was to feel real pain, when this
had to be resorted to in consequence of serious
misconduct in negroes, in whom I was really
interested, and whose misconduct I knew from
experience, could not be otherwise corrected.

In former times, the managers employed
upon estates were not always possessed of those
patient and humane dispositions, which all who
undertake the management of negroes ought
certainly to have ; but this remark I make not
from my own personal observation, but from
what I have often heard stated by many in
common conversation, in the West Indies.
They were seldom men of any education, and
ignorant how to treat the negro; and there is
reason to believe that they carried punishment
to an unwarrantable length. But even then,
there were many humane managers, whom the
negroes looked up to with real regard.

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WEST INDIES.

Managers are now generally a different de-
scription of persons— many of them are well
informed, superior men. If I am to believe the
testimony of the negroes from many different
estates, whom I was often in the habit of con-
versing with, the kindness of the managers on
the different estates to which they belonged
was conspicuous.

I do not feel inclined to have the same un-
limited confidence in overseers ; for although
they have it not in their power to exercise any
cruelty upon the negroes, in the way of ex-
cessive corporal punishment, yet they can
annoy them, in many other ways, especially
by reporting faults in exaggerated colours.

Managers formerly often lived very dissolute
lives, and this was a matter deeply to be de-
plored ; for negroes invariably look up to the
white people as an example. But the proprie-
tors have, for many years back, made every
exertion to obtain men of good character, in
point of sobriety and morality; and where they
may have been unsuccessful in obtaining such.

WEST INDIES.

333

it has not been from any indifference on the
subject.

A manager's situation is one that requires
great exertion both of body and mind. He has
to attend not only to the agriculture of the
estate, but also to the negroes, whose health
must occupy his attention. He must almost
daily watch the young people, who require an
uncommon degree of care, owing to a propen-
sity to which we have already alluded— -viz. to
eat earth and dust. From the moment a little
child begins to creep about, the danger begins,
and the minutest attention is required to pre-
vent the habit gaining ground.

There is no branch of a manager’s duty more
important or more difficult, than the manage-
ment of the young people till their fifteenth or
sixteenth year. If the proprietor be absent,
all this devolves upon him ; but when the pro-
prietor is resident, the responsibility is in part
removed from him. If the proprietor be a
married man, his wife has her full share of the
management of the children, the sick, and the

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WEST INDIES. ,

aged. I recollect many instances of real per-
sonal kindness from a manager to the negroes ;
even on very small properties, where the situ-
ation could not have enabled him to do more
than merely pay his way : let one such case
suffice. A negro belonging to — — had been
absent from the estate for many months. He
had never borne a good character, and was
generally considered as a complete reprobate.
Search had been often made for him in vain, — -
he eluded all pursuit. At length one afternoon,
two very respectable looking negroes came to
my door, and making a bow they said, <( Misses,
we ’ve brought C. to you ; we knowed how
great a runaway he has been, so we tied his
hand behind his back, and brought him safe to
massa ; for we knowed whose nigger he was,
though he denied it.” His master being from
home, I applied to a gentleman in the neigh-
bourhood for advice ; who told me the best
plan was to send him to gaol all night, for
security, and next day his master could do as
he thought fit. The poor creature was dirty,

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335

emaciated, and his clothes in a deplorable state.
After giving him a comfortable meal, he was
conveyed to gaol, though he resisted as stoutly
as he could. Next day his master sent him
back to the estate, but not until he had held a
long conversation with him. He accused him
of having taken to eating dirt, which he posi-
tively denied : however, to those who know the
peculiar appearance which it gives to the coun-
tenance, it is hardly possible to be mistaken in
this matter. His master asked him if he was
unhappy-— if he had any complaint to make—
if the manager or overseer, or any of the people
had quarrelled with him? But C. could assign
no reason for his constantly absenting himself;
il but massa,” said he, tl if you 'll try me once
more, I will go work, and do no more bad.
I \e been one very bad nigger to you and to

Mr. meaning the manager also. Every

thing was done to make this poor fellow change
his habits ; but he was so desperate a charac-
ter, so given to drunkenness, and so determined
a thief, that he was hardly ever at work, and
was a constant runaway.

336 WEST INDIES.

This mode of life soon began to undermine
his constitution, although he was a young man,
not much above twenty years. At last he
appeared to be dying ; and his master brought
him to town to try what could be done for him.
He loathed every sort of food, — wine was the
only thing he cared for; and it was at this time

V

that he informed me, “ that when he was sick
afore times, Mr. — (the manager') used to
give him often part of his own dinner, and
wine and water.” Bad as C.’s character was,
he frequently used to say, “The manager was
good too much to me.”

It would occupy more time than is necessary
for the purpose, to relate other acts of the same
description ; but I have known many strong
proofs of the kindness of managers, who were
not situated upon extensive properties.

END OF VOL. I.

LONDON :

PRINTED BY MANNING AND SMITHSON,
4, LONDON-HOUSE YARD.

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